Young: After RCR switch, Hendrick could hire Evernham for 88

Is Richard Childress pushing an early panic button, or is the switching of crews between drivers Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears just the thing the teams need to get going?

Based on early-season results — Harvick is just 16th in points, Mears 22nd — it’s clear something needed to be done. However, such moves more often fail than work. When Jack Roush swapped crew chiefs two years ago, Carl Edwards’ season went downhill without Bob Osborne, and not until the two were reunited did the 99 take off again.

Driver-crew chief relationships are extremely fragile (just ask Dale Earnhardt Jr.), and with today’s clone equipment it is often the difference between winning and losing. Harvick has had success with Todd Berrier, getting in the Chase the last three seasons, but Childress sees the potential for more.

By pairing him with veteran crew chief Gil Martin, Childress believes Harvick, who has led just nine laps this year, will be invigorated by the challenge.

Mears, on the other hand, was given every possible shot at succeeding this year, probably more than the journeyman driver deserved. He was given Clint Bowyer’s team (and points), yet has done very little this season. He, in fact, has zero top-five or top-10 finishes and has led, yes, zero laps. Any improvement with the 33 will be welcomed, but at this point Childress would be shooting for a miracle to get it in the Chase.

Either way, the move seems a bit on the panic side.

“Our main objective has always been to have all four of RCR’s teams qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup,” Childress said about the switch. “Neither team has had the success this season that we know they’re capable of, so we decided it was time to make a change to improve the two teams and the overall strength of RCR.”

But RCR’s other teams with drivers Jeff Burton (11th in points) and Bowyer (sixth) aren’t really tearing it up. The guess here is that Childress’ move with his bottom two teams is a clear message to everyone that he will not stand for mediocrity.

The move may just be the start of some other major shuffling this season, or at least maybe it should be. The obvious next target would be Earnhardt. Rick Hendrick is a patient man, but at some point soon, unless the 88 begins to be competitive on a weekly basis, something has to happen.

Junior and crew chief and cousin Tony Eury Jr. have been trying, per Hendrick orders, to get along better during races, but the results still haven’t been there. The 88 is 19th in points heading into today’s race at Talladega, where Earnhardt once won four consecutive races. It’s a good guess that if the team struggles today, Hendrick will start looking for options.

After all, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are 1-2 in points, and the surging Mark Martin, coming off his first Hendrick victory, is 13th, just nine points from 12th. Earnhardt has no top-five finishes and has led just 70 laps. The other three Hendrick drivers have led more than 850 combined laps.

But what to do? Earnhardt and Eury have been separated before with even worse results. Surely there are several crew-chiefs-in-waiting at Hendrick who could put some life into the team. From the 88 team’s in-race radio transmissions, it seems the driver needs someone who has a strong personality and has been there before.

It was reported this week that Hendrick was contemplating a switch of crew chiefs between Earnhardt and Martin, but team officials denied the report.

Earnhardt appears to have a good understanding of what he needs in a car, but the team often goes too far with adjustments or waits too long. Any new crew chief would have to have final say, and he would have to be a taskmaster with a pit crew that is weekly among the sport’s worst. And, guess what, there’s a fairly good one by the name of Ray Evernham who would likely jump at the chance to reunite with Rick Hendrick.

Sure, Hendrick was upset with Evernham when he left the organization to help build the Dodge program, but the businessman in Hendrick has to realize it was an offer Evernham couldn’t refuse. Now he needs to make him another one to get him back in the fold. Just imagine what an Earnhardt-Evernham pairing could accomplish.

Success might not happen right away because it would take a little time for the two to get to learn the other’s race-day language and for Evernham to get a feel for what Junior needs in the car. However, if Hendrick wants to see this team turn around, and soon, why not try to make the move?

Another option, though not for this year, might be to go after Greg Zipadelli who, of course, has had quite a bit of success working with stubborn drivers.

It’s still early, but, as Childress’ move proves, it’s not too soon to try to find a spark for a struggling team.