Dale Earnhardt Jr. defends embattled crew chief during frustrating final season

Earnhardt is winless and eight times has finished 30th or worse in 20 races this season.

During Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final season where positive results have largely been absent, Earnhardt’s crew chief, Greg Ives, has been the frequent target of condemnation on social media from fans of NASCAR’s most popular driver.

Most recently, Ives received quite a bit of criticism Sunday for his strategy calls during the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Instead of keeping Earnhardt, NASCAR’s 14-time most popular driver, on the track near the conclusion of the second stage and jumping his driver inside the top five, Ives had Earnhardt pit for tires and four fresh tires despite having enough fuel to make it to the stage finish.

On the ensuing restart, Earnhardt got swept into a chain-reaction collision that punctured a hole of the radiator on the No. 88 Chevrolet. A few laps the damage caused the engine to overheat and eventually blow, forcing Earnhardt to the garage prematurely. He finished 36th -- his eighth finish of 30th or worse in 20 races this season.

Afterward, Earnhardt defended his embattled crew chief with a brusque tweet. He expanded upon his defense of Ives during a break in testing Tuesday at Dover International Speedway.

"We've had a difficult year and there's just been a little rumbling in the background from fans," Earnhardt said. "They just love to target the crew chief. Our struggles are no one individual's responsibility. I think me and my crew chief, we have such a very passionate fan base, very large fan base, it's a challenging position for anybody. I've seen that, with all the guys that I've worked with. They've all had to deal with criticism."

Earnhardt acknowledged that maybe he shouldn’t have taken to Twitter to air his frustration with how Ives’ has been treated, but said it’s important to him that Ives and the rest of his Hendrick Motorsports team know he — and his legion of supporters — have confidence in them.

Earnhardt announced in April he would retire from driving full-time at the end of the current Monster Energy Cup Series season. Sitting 22nd in the points standings and winless, he will need to win one of the six remaining regular season races to qualify for the playoffs.

"Maybe Twitter ain't the place to be drawing attention to things like that," Earnhardt said. "You just hear enough chatter over the course of a long period of time. It wasn't something that just happened that particular weekend. Sometimes you feel like you've got to stand up for your guys. At least let Greg know, it's not OK I guess, to be a fan, then dog the crew.

"You're a fan of the team. It's important that they embrace the crew chief, guys on the crew, mechanics, tire changers - they need to embrace the whole thing."

Ives was an engineer for Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt’s teammate, when he won a record five Cup championships (2006-10). Ives guided Chase Elliott to the Xfinity Series championship in 2014, then was promoted by Hendrick to serve as Earnhardt’s crew chief the following season.

Earnhardt won three times and qualified for the playoffs in his first season working with Ives. Last year, Earnhardt missed 18 races dealing with concussion-like symptoms.

“I don't want this season to be remembered by my crew chief, myself and my guys as a miserable, miserable time,” Earnhardt said. “The fans have an influence on that. They can definitely ease up a bit on Greg and realize that he's extremely talented. He's in that position for a reason."