Lance McGrew came in May 28 on an interim basis, replacing Tony Eury Jr as crew-chief. Despite continuing poor results, that sum up one of Dale Earnhardt’s worst seasons, the 41-year old McGrew has been named yesterday full time crew-chief for Earnhardt’s team.
"I have total faith in Lance and what he's capable of accomplishing with Dale Jr.," Rick Hendrick said in the team statement. "There was a lot of pressure with how he came into this deal, and the way he's handled it has been extremely impressive. Lance is confident in himself and in his decisions, and all the outside distractions aren't going to faze him. He's a strong-willed guy who will keep his eye on the ball and not settle."
As crew-chief, McGrew took the 2003 Nationwide Series championship Brian Vickers and recorded several other important results with drivers like Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Ricky Hendrick, Mark Martin and Tony Stewart. Lance McGrew succeeded in taking victories in all three of NASCAR's national touring series, so his experience in the sport is undeniable, but perhaps he and Earnhardt Jr weren’t exactly on the same wave length until now, as both stressed the importance of communication inside a team.
"Lance has been part of the solution, not the problem," said Earnhardt, an 18-time winner in the Sprint Cup Series. "He's tough, which is what I need, and we've really clicked in a short period of time. The communication has gotten better every practice and every race, and I know that's going to keep improving. Having this decision behind us is really important, and now we can focus on the future instead of the past."
"The communication between Dale Jr. and I continues to improve every single week," revealed McGrew. "Both of us are 110-percent committed to the success of this team, and we're going to do everything necessary to get the job done for Hendrick Motorsports, our sponsors and Dale's fans."
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