Earnhardt confident despite penalty

Eury Jr will sit out the next six Nextel Cup races as part of the punishment his team received from NASCAR for a technical infringement found on the #8 car during pre-race inspection at Darlington Raceway.

The first weekend without Eury Jr has started well for Earnhardt Jr as he achieved his best qualifying of the season thus far, emerging fourth in Thursday's session under the guidance of Tony Gibson.

"He is a great guy and going to do a good job for us this weekend," said Earnhardt Jr about his new crew chief at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "Tony (Eury) Jr has given him all the information he can to make this as workable as possible.

"I am very confident that Tony (Gibson) is going to do a great job. It is child's play to him, he has been in this sport for a long time. I am really glad he is in a position he is to fill in a role like this."

Eury Jr was able to attend last weekend's Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe's as DEI had appealed NASCAR's decision. However, the team withdrew their appeal and he will not be on the pit wall this weekend.

Dale Earnhardt Jr says that this has not prevented Eury Jr from being in continuous contact with his team over the weekend, although he believes the rest of his crew will cope well with his absence.

"I don't think the phone ever hung up with Tony Jr giving us as much help as he could to get us comfortable with what we needed for a setup and help Tony (Gibson)," Dale Jr added.

"But I have a lot of confidence in our team and how we are going to run this weekend. Everyone has really stepped up and is working hard to get us the finishes we need."

Earnhardt Jr is currently 14th in the driver standings after he was docked 100 points as part of the penalties imposed by NASCAR on the #8 team.