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Hendrick Motorsports has entire 2014 season to find new crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • NASCAR Earnhardt Latarte Auto Racing
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    NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. answers questions during a news conference at Sprint Cup auto racing testing at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Friday, Jan. 10, 2014.(AP Photo/John Raoux) (The Associated Press)

  • 46f9cb8c-NASCAR Earnhardt Latarte Auto Racing
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    NASCAR crew chief Steve Latarte answers question during a news conference at Sprint Cup auto racing testing at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Friday, Jan. 10, 2014. Latarte will join NBC Sports in 2015 as a commentator.(AP Photo/John Raoux) (The Associated Press)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is admittedly scared by the daunting task of replacing crew chief Steve Letarte.

He'll leave it up to team owner Rick Hendrick and management at Hendrick Motorsports, and they've got the entire season to find a new crew chief. Letarte was formally introduced Friday as the third and final member of NBC Sports Group's broadcast team for its NASCAR coverage beginning in 2015.

Earnhardt and Letarte have been paired since 2011. Although the duo has just one win together, they've made the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship the past three seasons.

More important, Letarte rebuilt the confidence in NASCAR's most popular driver and instilled a structure around Earnhardt that the driver admits raised his professionalism in the race car.