“Our Team Was Embarrassed”- Dale Earnhardt Jr Makes a Bold Confession About His Worst Slump at Hendrick Motorsports

Despite being voted NASCAR’s most popular driver for 15 seasons, Dale Earnhardt Jr had to overcome tough challenges during his career as a full-time Cup Series driver. Junior was part of two teams during that time, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Hendrick Motorsports. While his exit from DEI was difficult, Junior recently revealed that the toughest time in his racing days came during his time with HMS.

Junior joined Rick Hendrick’s team after failing to agree to a contract extension with DEI in 2007. He had said back then that the parties never even came close to an agreement. While he got off to a good start at HMS, things would quickly go south during his first years with the team.

Infighting lost Dale Earnhardt Jr his close friend at Hendrick Motorsports

Dale Earnhardt Jr joined Hendrick Motorsports before the 2008 Cup Series season and he had convinced his DEI crew chief Tony Eury Jr to go with him. The 49-year-old revealed on a recent episode of Kenny Conversation that things began on a positive note. However, his luck ran out far sooner than anyone saw coming at the time.

Dale Jr narrated, “The timeline’s a little murky but we started off great. We went to our first test in Vegas and shocked Jeff Gordon on how fast we were and how well we worked together and Jeff’s like, “Man, they’re gonna make us better. This is awesome.

“We were running really well in the points, we finally won a race, we had great speed and then it just stopped. We just stopped performing, we couldn’t get it right.”

Dale Jr and Tony Eury Jr shared a great relationship. The two worked extremely well together. And they could talk to one another without any inhibition because of being close friends. So when things started going south, the two would engage in heated verbal duels over the team radio.

Of course, everything was okay between the two off track thanks to their strong friendship. However, Rick Hendrick and his team did not like the way Dale and Tony communicated. The Kannapolis-born veteran revealed the team’s embarrassment. And Tony Jr had to leave HMS for JR Motorsports as a result.

“Me and Tony Jr, we were brothers. We fought like hell on the radio and our team was embarrassed…At Hendrick it was different. They didn’t think that was great…it was not good. It was a bad look but me and Tony Jr didn’t realize that we needed to keep our mouths shut,” he said.

“Tony Jr ends up going to JR Motorsports and then I got teamed up with McGrew and we just could never really figure it out. I struggled pretty badly during the next couple of years. I mean I was as miserable, down, bottom of the barrel as I could be. It was very very challenging,” the former Cup Series added with a sombre tone.

Junior himself felt that he was on thin ice after a difficult first few years at Hendrick Motorsports. The ex-DEI pilot finished outside the top 20 in both 2009 and 2010 after a strong start in 2008.

Read More: “I Though He Was Going to Whoop My A**”- Dale Earnhardt Jr Calls Out Ryan Newman As He Reminisces Harsh Rivalry

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Junior reveals battling with insecurities during slump

Poor results completely deflated Dale Jr’s confidence as he struggled to find his form. This was compounded by the fact that his teammate at the time, Jimmie Johnson, was winning back-to-back Cup Series championship titles. Even Mark Martin managed to finish second in the championship in 2009 while Junior finished 25th.

“I was sitting there thinking, ‘Man, I don’t know how in the hell this is ever going to get turned around. I don’t know who could turn it around. I don’t know if it’s possible. I’m no longer under the wing of my father’s company. I’m out outside of that security and that safety net. I’m at HMS. There’s nowhere to hide if you can’t run good in that car. There’s no excuse.’ And so I was sitting there around 2011 and 12 thinking that I might wake up one day and my career could be over, whether I want it to end or not,” he recalled.

However, Junior never gave up and with the help of his team’s support, mounted a solid comeback. In the 2011 season, he overcame the slump to finish P7 in the championship. He might have never won the Cup but he rejuvenated his career after a couple of extremely difficult years. It is a testament to his toughness and something he could definitely be proud of.

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