On second thought ?

 

Team owner Rick Hendrick and drivers with swapped crew chiefs: Mark Martin (who now has Lance McGrew), Dale Earnhardt (Steve Letarte), and Jeff Gordon (Alan Gustafson).

 

First, a preface. On Monday night, I was on Mojo Nixon’s Sirius NASCAR Channel show, “Manifold Destiny.” I noted that many Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans had been suggesting, no, demanding, that Earnhardt be given crew chief Chad Knaus, who assisted Jimmie Johnson in winning the last five Sprint Cup championships.

I said that, based on my knowledge of both men, Junior and Knaus wouldn’t get along for 15 minutes. I then said that I thought Steve Letarte, Jeff Gordon’s crew chief, would be a better match for Junior.

The next day Hendrick Motorsports announced that it was swapping the teams of the three drivers other than Johnson. Letarte moved to Earnhardt’s team. Lance McGrew moved to Mark Martin’s team, and Alan Gustafson moved to Gordon’s.

It looked as if I had had inside information. I hadn’t. It was just an observation that happened to occur the very next day. It made sense to me. I guess it made sense to Rick Hendrick, too. Skill is rewarding, but luck is more fun.

On Wednesday, I co-hosted another Sirius NASCAR (Ch. 128) show, “Trading Paint,” with Danny “Chocolate” Myers, who worked with Dale Earnhardt for years and is still affiliated with Richard Childress Racing.

On the day before, while driving, I had listened to some of the NASCAR Channel, just to see what everyone was talking about. Everyone was talking about the Hendrick moves and still were when Choc and I answered their calls and talked about them for most of four hours.

On Tuesday, while I was listening, almost everyone had been angry, particularly the fans of Earnhardt and Gordon.

On Wednesday, while I was talking to them and trying to answer their questions, most all of them had reconsidered.

The transition didn’t particularly surprise me. It’s not unusual for people to overreact on first impression, then think it through and come around. The near unanimity of the change is what surprised me.

The day before, it was the same show, Choc paired with his regular sidekick, Rick Benjamin. I was just substituting.

That made me the variable, I guess, but I don’t really think that had anything to do with it.

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