CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have a new crew chief starting with this weekend's race at Dover.

The team said Thursday that Tony Eury Jr. was replaced as crew chief of Earnhardt's No. 88 team.

They left Dale Earnhardt Inc. last season to drive for Hendrick Motorsports, but they've yet to find consistency despite driving for NASCAR's top team.

“

Our performance hasn't been where it should be. ... Change is the right decision at this point.

”

RICK HENDRICK

"Our performance hasn't been where it should be," said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. "It's impossible to pin that on any one factor, but a change is the right decision at this point. We have a plan in place, and we're going to move forward with it."

They have one win in 48 races with Hendrick and are 19th in points. They hit rock bottom with Monday's 40th-place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Team manager Brian Whitesell will be the crew chief this weekend. Lance McGrew will take over next week on an interim basis as team owner Rick Hendrick figures out a long-term plan for NASCAR's most popular driver.

"We're cousins, but we're a lot like brothers," Earnhardt said Thursday during an appearance for Michigan International Speedway at Motor City Casino. "We've been sort of at odds with each other over the last couple of weeks.

"As a whole, our relationship is really, really strong, and we've always really had a great enthusiasm to work together. We came to Hendrick with a little bit of a risk. We felt a lot of pressure when we went to Rick to work, but we jumped in with both feet and really felt like we were going to make it happen. It's really, really disappointing that it didn't work out like we wanted."

Eury Jr. will move into Hendrick Motorsports' research and development group. After serving as a Hendrick crew chief, McGrew most recently had led its R&D team for driver Brad Keselowski.

"We're going to put our full resources toward improving the situation and winning races," Hendrick said. "It's going to be a collective effort that includes all of our drivers, all of our crew chiefs and all of our engineers. Everyone in our company will be involved on some level."

As a crew chief, McGrew has posted victories in all three of NASCAR's major touring series. He has won races with drivers Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon, Ricky Hendrick, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Tony Stewart.

A native of Baton Rouge, La., McGrew has experience working with Earnhardt. Last season, the pair ran three Nationwide Series races, posting two top-10s and a 15th-place finish.

After Monday's rain-shortened race, Hendrick's commitment to the pair had clearly waned. Following months of steadfast support, he was noncommittal about Eury's future with Earnhardt. (Continued)