On Thursday, NASCAR Nation received what was a shock to many when it was announced that Steve Letarte will be stepping off the pit box in 2015.
Letarte, who has crew chiefed for Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the past four years, will become an analyst for NBC Sports in 2015. He will join Rick Allen and Jeff Burton in the booth for the second half of the schedule.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says it’s a unique situation, though he knew Letarte’s decision when they left Homestead-Miami Speedway after the final race of the 2013 season.
“He actually included me in on the discussion before the end of last year and I had a pretty good understanding, whether he knew or not, what he was going to do,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
Earnhardt Jr. added that it’s a tough situation because the pair are good friends and Earnhardt enjoys working with him but understands it will give Letarte the ability to spend more time with his two children.
“It’s something that’s really important to him and the way these races are broadcast and how they’re presented to the fans is a big part of how the sport remains healthy and I think that he’s going to be incredible in that role. I think that he’ll — I think that he’ll be really good,” Earnhardt Jr. commented. “I’m excited for him because I know he’s really looking forward to it. You can tell when he talks about it how genuinely enthused he is about the opportunity.”
Earnhardt said he first caught wind of a rumor surrounding it in October at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“The rumors were kind of sketchy and unclear and I didn’t know the specifics of what he was thinking about doing; just that he would even want to do anything different blew me away because we were all having such a good time and the team was moving forward and the trajectory was great for what we were trying to accomplish. We were getting closer and closer to realizing our potential,” he said.
“So yeah, it was a huge shock at first, and the more — just for me personally, it was difficult. And the more I sat down with him and talked about it, the more it made sense and the more I understood his situation and I could put my own selfishness aside and kind of understand what was important to him and how this was good for him.”
“You know, he’s a good guy. He deserves these opportunities and he’s earned it.”
Even with the announcement made, the focus remains the same for 2014 as the pair will look to win a championship together. Earnhardt Jr. knows that Letarte will be dedicated to the team as he has been in the past and expects them to have a better year this year than last year. The pair had their best season together last year – scoring 10 top fives and 22 top 10s in the 36 races.
“It’s definitely going to be emotional and difficult at times, just because we really enjoy working together,” Earnhardt added. “But I’m excited about the year. I’m excited about our chances as a team. We’ve got a great group of guys. Steve is a great crew chief that’s going to get us a good opportunity to try to win some races.”
“And I think that the team, just based on the personalities and how well we all get along and mesh and how much fun we really had last year, I think that everybody can buckle down and do their jobs and I think we can do well.”
In the years that the pair have worked together, Earnhardt says he has learned a lot from Letarte as he has changed him as a racecar driver and helped on the confidence level.
“I think I can carry that with me, what I’ve learned about myself and what I’ve learned about the job and what my job is and what my responsibility is to Steve and the crew chief,” the 39-year-old commented. “I think I can carry that with me – hopefully I can at this age. Hopefully I’ve learned something and learned enough to do a better job for the next guy.”
One of the lessons that Earnhardt learned was how to be more professional behind the wheel in handling his responsibilities and communicating with the team.
“That was a bit of a problem for me when I was younger,” he added. “I’d kind of lose it behind the wheel every once in a while and argue and fight. We definitely have moved quite a ways away from that. There’s part of me that’s kind of ready to accept the challenge and see how the change affects the team and how — it’s great that we’ve got a year to figure it out and find out who can come in there and take his place.”
Earnhardt admits, though, that part of him is afraid that they won’t be able to replace Letarte.
“It’s a guy that’s going to be hard to replace,” he said. “I’m not worried about the specific qualities that Steve has, but just will we be able to get a guy in there of equal talent, and how well will we be able to make that transition seamless. It’s going to be a real challenge to do that, and I guess that’s my only concern.”
Though when it comes to finding a new crew chief, Earnhardt says he is going to leave that up to Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports GM Doug Duchardt. He added that he would also like Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus and Letarte to have a say in the choice, as well.
“I think that Steve knows what makes this team work,” Earnhardt said. “Steve knows how I can be successful and how the individuals within the team can be successful. I think he’d be a good guy to sort of pick at and hope that Doug and Rick would include him in that conversation at times.
“I think it’s important that Chad has got a lot of influence because he knows how well the shop works together and what the culture is in the shop and how a guy, a particular guy, may mesh in that environment.
“But I don’t really want to have any influence on the choice. I want — I think that those guys are the ones that can make the choice and have the most success with that decision. I’ll just kind of — it was Rick and upper management that decided to put me with Steve. I didn’t know how that was going to work out. I didn’t know much about Steve. I knew him and Jeff were not really clicking at that point in time in their careers, so I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I just wanted to trust their judgment, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
