Kyle Busch critical of Earnhardt

Earnhardt currently lies 19th in the standings with a second place at Talladega his only top six finish of the year so far. He has changed crew chiefs for this weekend's race at Dover, ending his long relationship with Tony Eury Jr in favour of Busch's former Nationwide crew chief Lance McGrew.

Busch, who was replaced by Earnhardt at Hendrick Motorsports last year, says that fingers will never be pointed at the fans' favourite.

"He's got his hands full, I guess," Busch said about McGrew. "If [Earnhardt] Junior doesn't run well, thenhe is going to be the problem. It's never Junior, it's always the crew chief.

"He's the one who pulled so hard to bring Tony Eury Jr in. It looked like it was working there in the beginning but it hasn't worked since the summer of last year, really."

McGrew admitted that there is an added pressure in being the crew chief of NASCAR's most popular driver.

"I don't know if any crew chief would sit here and tell you it's not a little daunting to have the most popular driver in your stable," said McGrew. "Yes, I have been very fortunate to work with a lot of different drivers and see a lot of different personalities.

"I believe it's going to be extremely challenging and its going to require a lot of work, not so much on the equipment side but just on the personal side because I feel like you have to have a relationship with your driver in order to be successful.

"For me, I'm not the most outgoing person in the whole world and the media blitz is not exactly what I prefer to be doing right now. It's part of the job and it's something I'll have to work on as well."