“It Broke My Heart” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Reveals How He Almost Sabotaged His Crew Chief’s Growth Out of Selfishness

Dale Earnhardt Jr has shared a special bond with the NASCAR community. Loved widely across the sport, one of the many deep-rooted relationships he formed was at Hendrick Motorsports. Apart from his close relationship with Jimmie Johnson, he was also fond of his crew chief in the #88 Chevrolet, Greg Ives. While the story between the two goes back to 2013, there were some hiccups along their path.

From 2011 to 2014, the No. 88 was headed by HMS legend and current NBC analyst Steve Letarte. Letarte and Dale Jr formed a formidable pair on the track that showcased speed and strength. However, with the entrance of new opportunities into the sport, an emotional dilemma surrounded Junior. Speaking on Kenny Wallace’s talk show, The Kenny Conversation, Dale Jr returns to an instance of his selfishness when he could have spilled water on Letarte’s plans.

Dale Earnhardt Jr could have been an obstruction to Steve Letarte’s career

Steve Letarte has led some incredibly well-oiled teams in his career. Before coming to terms with Dale Earnhardt Jr, he was also the orchestrator for four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Moving from No. 24 Chevrolet to Junior’s entourage was a drastic change in surroundings for Letarte. Junior and Letarte still have a great relationship, regardless. Junior’s media house, Dirty Mo Media, has given Steve Letarte a platform to show his expertise.

Letarte has displayed his expertise and opinions on the sport through the podcast Dirty Mo Dough. The podcast has also been widely popular within the fanbase and has garnered a lot of attention. But before joining NBC as an analyst, Letarte could have lost an opportunity to enter broadcasting. Speaking about the rumor that ignited a selfish corner in him, the 49-year-old revealed,

“I forget how I heard this, but I was at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2014, and somebody said, ‘Hey man, I got word that Letarte might be going to work for NBC next year.’ When I heard that NBC was thinking about coming into NASCAR and becoming a partner, I called somebody that was sort of helping put all that together. I said you know who they need to put in the booth at NBC is Dale Jarrett.”

Dale Jarrett has also been an active voice post-retirement. Jarrett is one of the first NASCAR superstars to grace the broadcast booth with his presence. Many NASCAR drivers, like Jeff Burton and Kyle Petty, have followed in his footsteps. However, as NBC entered the sport, Steve Letarte was chosen as the first expert in the booth.

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“Dale Jarrett hadn’t been in a booth full-time in quite a while,” stated Junior. “I think he’d been there before with ESPN and a few other people, but I was opinionated about what our broadcast booth needed. I was like, Here’s a shot for me to put in my two cents. I think the booth needs Dale Jarett, yeah, and they went and hired my crew chief, that I was running good with. Anyways, that might have been around 2013, but it broke my heart.”

Letarte’s exit marked the beginning of Junior’s relationship with Greg Ives

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Greg Ives has been a Hendrick Motorsports loyalist for all of his career. He crossed paths with Dale Earnhardt Jr as he debuted as crew chief with JR Motorsports in 2013. Joining the team as Regan Smith’s guide in the Xfinity Series, he also led Chase Elliott to the Xfinity title in 2014. Talking about his dynamic with his former crew chief, Ives, Junior said,

“I go into those final few years with Greg Ives, and me and Greg became great friends. I had some problems physically with concussions and things that were definitely derailing our momentum and our ability to build as a team, and the results were hard to come by for me in that final year.”

Following the recurring concussions for Dale Earnhardt Jr in 2017, he announced the unexpected news of his retirement. Ives had three wins with Junior in the No.88 and moved on to Alex Bowman’s No.48 after 2017. Speaking about his most memorable moments at HMS, Ives iterated,

“I had a lot of satisfying experiences as a crew chief. The win that we had at Talladega (Superspeedway, May 2015 with Earnhardt Jr.) was truly special.”

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Ives also returned this year as an interim crew chief for Alex Bowman after NASCAR slapped four HMS crew chiefs with a four-race suspension and a $100,000 fine for each of them for unauthorized part modifications.