Teams move to solidify lineups

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will keep his current crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., when stock-car racing’s most popular driver moves to Hendrick Motorsports next season, Hendrick said Tuesday.

The announcement was one in a flurry of changes involving NASCAR Nextel Cup teams and drivers for 2008, when the series itself will change its name to the Sprint Cup Series.

Hendrick also said Casey Mears, the Bakersfield native who drives the team’s No. 25 Chevrolet, will take over its No. 5 Chevy next year for departing Kyle Busch.

Mears also will inherit Busch’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson. Mears’ crew chief, Darian Grubb, will move into a more senior role with the team, Hendrick said.

So Hendrick’s lineup for 2008 will be four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, reigning title holder Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt and Mears.

Busch is being released by Hendrick after this season to make way for Earnhardt, and Busch already has signed with Joe Gibbs Racing for next season.

Gibbs’ other drivers are two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. (The team today also is expected to announce its switch to Toyota race cars from Chevrolets, starting next year.)

Gibbs, in turn, made room for Busch to drive its No. 18 car next year by announcing plans to release J.J. Yeley after this season.

But Yeley was signed Tuesday by the one-car team of Hall of Fame Racing to drive its No. 96 Chevrolet in 2008 and succeed its current driver, Tony Raines.

The hiring of Yeley, a Phoenix native, came only days after Hall of Fame’s original co-owners -- which included former football greats Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman -- sold majority control of the team to two principals of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel.

Hendrick’s decision to keep Earnhardt and Eury paired was somewhat surprising because many in the sport speculated that Hendrick might assign one of its own team members to the driver.

But Eury, who also is Earnhardt’s cousin, and the driver “have a successful history working together,” owner Rick Hendrick said in announcing Eury’s multiyear contract with the team.

“We have the utmost confidence in their ability to win races and compete for titles,” he said.

Earnhardt could not be reached for comment, but Eury said he and Earnhadt “are both excited to continue working together. With the resources we’ll have at Hendrick Motorsports, it’s an opportunity to consistently run up front and be in title contention every year.”

Eury and Earnhardt have worked together for years, but their relationship has been contentious at times. After bickering for much of 2004 they virtually stopped speaking to each other and parted ways, with Eury becoming crew chief for then-teammate Michael Waltrip.

But during the 2005 season they reconciled and Eury returned as Earnhardt’s crew chief. Today, some NASCAR observers joke that the two often speak in a language only the two cousins understand, and their radio chatter during races often has a familial ring to it, especially when they bicker.

Earnhardt’s car number and primary sponsor for next year have yet to be announced. His current main sponsor, Budweiser, is not planning to follow him to Hendrick.

Earnhardt had hoped to keep his No. 8 on his car. But he and Hendrick were unable to reach an agreement with Teresa Earnhardt -- the driver’s stepmother and owner of Dale Earnhardt Inc. -- who leases the number from NASCAR.

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james.peltz@latimes.com