JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — His race day results with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a steady decline, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. lost confidence in his setups and strategies.

He quit talking with Earn-hardt on the radio because every brief conversation was dissected by critical fans and media.

When team owner Rick Hendrick pulled the plug on the unproductive relationship in late May, Eury was ready to move on.

“At some point in time you have to weigh it and say, ‘Is it worth it?’” Eury said. “And it wasn’t.”

Eury was back at the track Thursday for the first time since the longtime duo were separated. He’ll be crew chief for Brad Keselowski’s Hendrick Motor-sports team at Chicagoland tonight.

Eury was excited, relaxed and talked about racing with “nothing to lose” this weekend, a sharp difference from his final races with Earnhardt.

The pair signed with Hendrick last season in one of the most ballyhooed acquisitions in NASCAR history. All Hendrick got for his money was one victory in 48 races and endless speculation about the state of the cousins’ relationship.

Their season morphed from slow start to prolonged slump, to a series of mistakes and distractions that forced Hendrick into shuffling the lineup. Eury was moved into a research and development role, and Lance McGrew took over as Earnhardt’s crew chief.

He’s shown flashes of improvement, but his final results haven’t been much better since the switch, as Earnhardt has gone from 19th in points to 21st.

“A lot of people put him on a pedestal he doesn’t need to be on,” Eury said. “They put a lot of pressure on him to be somebody he’s not going to be.”

. He had mixed feelings about the decision. On one hand he was ready to leave the daily scrutiny that comes with the job. On the other, Eury felt he let down his cousin by not living up to the lofty expectations.

“Dale Jr. is a great race car driver, but I just think that he’s got so much pressure on him that he doesn’t enjoy it right now,” Eury said. That’s kind of where I was at.”

Eury Jr. and Earnhardt exchanged some texts and emotional phone calls after the move.They planned hunting trips and other activities far removed from the track.

“In no way, shape or form, am I going to let this sport get in between me and Dale,” Eury said.

What pained Eury even worse was the idea that he failed his father and the late Dale Earnhardt as the DEI leaders.

“They wanted me and Dale Jr. to go racing and we wanted to be the front of the company,” Eury said. “Them two wanted to retire and kick back and watch us. Losing Dale Sr. was a big hit on all three of us. We were trying everything we could to make Dale Jr. successful. I kind of felt like I let everybody down, to a point.”

“I’m just glad Rick put me in a position where I could have a little bit more fun and do a little bit more,” he said.