When Earnhardt Jr signed on with Hendrick Motorsports, people expected greatness. After one full season, people expect Jr to have adjusted to his new team and for the wins to start coming. But, that hasn’t happened thus far this season.

Instead, Jr has run in the teens, and hasn’t seriously contended for a win. As a result, Jr Nation has been calling for Eury’s head.

Ironically enough, Jr, not Eury, was not the one who made mistakes in the Daytona 500. And, faulty parts were to blame for the team’s poor performance in the Auto Club 500. So, maybe Eury is not to blame for the team’s struggles. Still, he gets the criticism because Jr Nation believes he is the weak link.

Dale Earnhardt Jr spoke out on behalf of his embattled crew cheif, saying:

The guy I feel bad for is Tony Jr. He gets criticized so bad. Everybody in this room…knows how smart of a guy he is, certainly knows he’s a good mechanic and a solid crew chief. … I’ll take the fall. I’d rather be crucified than him. Every time I read in the paper that people are on his case I feel like I’m sending my brother to jail for a crime I committed.

And now, the man himself — Rick Hendrick — did the same:

Right now Tony Jr. is our guy. I’m 100% behind this group. I have no intentions of making any [personnel] changes. … I have all intentions of making it better. These guys are working their butts off … and I have to believe in the next few weeks we’re going to see some real success out of that crowd.

The team met for three hours to discuss their performance and to try to figure out ways to improve. And Jr himself has vowed to workout more and diet better.

Time will tell if these were steps in the right direction, but it is a positive sign to see that the team, and the driver, are doing everything they can to get better. For now, that will have to do for Jr Nation.

ESPN, the AP, and the Los Angeles Times also reported on this story.

Martin has experienced a ton of misfortune to start this season. He was running fourth in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he ran over a piece of debris, cutting a tire and severly damaging his No. 5 Kelloggs/Carquest Chevy. He finished 31st.

During the previous two races, the Shelby 427 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Auto Club 500 from Auto Club Speedway (Fontana), he experienced engine failures that gave him a pair of 40th place finishes. 

His 16th-place finish in the Daytona 500 looks pretty good right now, compared to his finishes in the last three races.

Crew cheif Alan Gustafson was expected to meet with Martin to discuss how the team can save its season. The problem is, it hasn’t been mistakes as much as it has been bad luck.

The Daytona 500 was called early due to rain. If it hadn’t been, Martin may have finished better than 16th. He won the pole at Atlanta and was running in the top 5 when his tire blew.

He didn’t have winning cars at Las Vegas or Fontana, but he certainly could have finished better than 40th.

As a result of the misfortune, Martin is changing his focus from the Chase and championship to winning races. He is mathematically still in contention, but he knows that making up points on one person is easier than making up points on 34 people.

So, for now, Martin is concentrating on winning his first race since 2005.

But three laps into the Shelby 427, Kenseth was on pit road with engine trouble, his team trying desparately to diagnose and fix the problem. By lap 6, his potentially historical day ended in a plume of white smoke from the rear of his USG Sheetrock Ford Fusion. He finished dead last, and dropped from first to third in points.

Kenseth’s Sunday performance just goes to show that no matter how invincible a driver seems at a given time, he can be knocked right back into mortality by factors beyond his control.

No one knows this better, perhaps, than Kyle Busch. Last season, Busch was the hottest driver in the sport, winning more than 20 races in NASCAR’s top three series. But, in the Chase, he stumbled, bumbled, and fumbled his way to an 10th place finish. 

In a sport where talent and ability can take a back seat to quality of equipment and a little bit of luck, we’ve all learned that no one is invincible.

The Monday after the race, the media sounded the alarms, perhaps rightfully so. After all, NASCAR’s prodigal son, and most popular driver, would be in danger of missing a race.

Throughout the week, story after story, and column after column, highlighted Jr’s plight. Many stressed the need for a good finish, which Jr earned quietly in last weekend’s Shelby 427 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

One day after the Shelby 427, in which we saw Mark Martin lose an engine and finish 40th, I wonder if we’ll see the same amount of coverage that Jr received. My guess is no.

One could argue that Martin is just as talented as Jr. One could even argue that Martin is statistically better than Jr (career-wise.) But why won’t Martin receive as much media coverage? He’s on a high-profile team. He’s considered a Chase and championship contender.

Perhaps Matt Kenseth’s lost engine will be the bigger story, he was the points leader, after all. He also finished dead last. Still, you would think Martin would warrant the same coverage, at least, as Jr. Right? I mean, he lost two engines in as many weeks. He shares a shop with Jr at Hendrick Motorsports. There’s got to be some media value there.

But, at the end of the day, Martin’s blown engine will not receive as much coverage as Jr’s. Why? Because Jr is like the Dallas Cowboys of NASCAR. Every thing that happens to him and his team receives big coverage because it will generate clicks on a website.

Love him or hate him, most every NASCAR fan will read stories about him. Some hope the story will give them hope, while others hope the story will call him overrated and provide substance to their arguments that he is overrated.

In his Inside Line column, David Caraviello may have described the situation best. He wrote:

Any other driver misses his pit board in the Daytona 500, and it’s a non-story; Junior does it, and it’s a crisis. Any other driver crashes with Brian Vickers trying to get a lap back, and it’s a controversy; Junior does it, and it provokes debates over the most overrated athlete in history.

Instead, he suffered from a punctured oil filter. Once replaced, the car fired, but the damage sustained from his contact with the wall prevented the team from returning to the Auto Club 500 from Auto Club Speedway.

Harvick’s inability to return to the race also ended his streak of consecutive races without a DNF. He was reportedly three short of the record.

The two-mile, D shaped oval is an intermediate track — the kind of track that makes up the bulk of the season’s races. Teams that perform well at these tracks usually make the Chase or compete for the Chase spots.

While one could argue that Matt Kenseth’s Daytona 500 victory (although impressive), was a fluke, his victory in the Auto Club 500 has earned him a mention as one of the championship contenders.

Say what you want about the benefits of clean air on the Car of Tomorrow, Kenseth drove away from the field several times, and had an excellent pit road showing. Thus, he needs to be included in any championship talk this year.

Jeff Gordon, based on Sunday’s performance, may also be someone to think about in the championship race. Coming off a season where he did not visit Victory Lane once, you can expect him to be focused and determined, and, right now, he is driving like it. Look for him to be a contender at the end of the season.

Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Carl Edwards all had decent showings, and should contend for the Sprint Cup.

Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch are outside shots to make the Chase and contend for championships. I think it would be foolish to count them out, but I would like to see more consistency from those two teams, before I would say they are locks for Chase spots.

And, while neither one of their days ended how they wanted, I also expect Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr to contend for Chase spots. Harvick is usually quietly consistent. This year will be no different, but he will contend for a Chase spot. Earnhardt Jr’s engine went south, but before that he drove from his starting position in the back up to the top 15.

Normally 15th place is nothing to talk about, but Earnhardt has routinely struggled at this track, and his showing before heading to the garage is reason enough not to count him out.

Also, look for Brian Vickers to contend. His Red Bull Racing team has figured something out, and it’s only a matter of time before he wins a race. If he can keep out of trouble, he should be able to sneak into the Chase.

I’m not sure about Mark Martin or Jeff Burton. I’m not ready to discount them after two races, but Burton looked awful yesterday. He ran near the back all day and was never a factor. Martin was running well before engine problems ended his day. I think both have the potential to make the Chase, I’m just not sure either will.

Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 5.

Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Brian Vickers finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Kasey Kahne (12th), Michael Waltrip (15th), Clint Bowyer (19th), Bobby Labonte (20nd), Joey Logano (26th), Ryan Newman (28th), Kevin Harvick (38th), Dale Earnhardt Jr (39th), and Mark Martin (40th). 

Kevin Harvick lost an engine and crashed hard into the turn 1 wall.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr and Mark Martin both had engine trouble around lap 175, with Martin losing his engine at 179, and Jr taking his car behind the wall on lap 205.

Richard “Slugger” Labbe will serve as crew chief for Gilliland. Labbe served as crew cheif for Michael Waltrip at Dale Earnhardt Inc, and won two races at Daytona there. He also was a crew chief at Red Bull Racing.

TRG Motorsports’ Kevin Buckler said:

We are determined to put the right pieces in place to be successful. David has the most experience in the COT car of any driver available. Slugger gives us a lot of experience working with the COT car. We were short a few pieces at Daytona, but I believe we have put the right people together to have a successful weekend in California.

Gilliland lost his ride at Yates Racing when Paul Menard joined the team, and Bobby Labonte and Hall Of Fame Racing formed an alliance with the team. The team was not able to find sponsorship for Gilliland.