LOUDON, N.H. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Eury Jr. were at it again on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

After leading more than 75 laps in the middle stages of the Sylvania 300, Earnhardt lashed out at his team following a pit stop that dropped him out of contention for the win shortly after the halfway point. At issue for Earnhardt were a bad set of tires that didn’t perform the way he wanted. What he implied was that the team always seemed strong enough to dominate early, but never to finish the job.

"It seems to be happening to a lot of us," said Earnhardt, who has one win this season and finished fifth on Sunday. "I don’t know, man. We were leading the race, we were the fastest car on the track and we put on a set of tires and fell all the way to 10^th or whatever."

After the radio bickering subsided, team owner Rick Hendrick got involved over the radio.

"If you let things get to you, you will not win this Chase," Hendrick said. "It is just like a basketball game. Guys lead, lead, lead – and choke. You can’t choke, and that is what I am trying to get them not to do is choke... If they get steam and they get a bit in their mouth, sometimes they can beat the guys in their head before they get on the track.

"I probably talked way too much on the radio today."

Hendrick also addressed the relationship between Earnhardt and his crew chief and cousin, Eury Jr. It was sometimes a combustible relationship when they were together at Dale Earnhardt Inc. They split at the beginning of the 2006 season, before reuniting with 10 races to go in that season.

Eury went with Earnhardt to Hendrick Motorsports this offseason, too. Hendrick realizes that heated exchanges are part of what goes on between the two.

"I think I listened to (Earnhardt) when he had Lance McGrew as a crew chief, and he was mild-mannered, just saying I need a little of this or a little of that. I just think it is like you and your brother playing in the house or out in the yard. You wouldn’t treat a friend or a neighbor that way.

"I think they can be better. I know Tony will be better and can help (Earnhardt) more if he is calmer when he is giving him information... I think Tony has been so used to being quiet and letting him rant and go off. They both tell me they like it, so either they are lying to me, or they like it. If they are lying to me, they screwed up, because I am just going to keep on going."

LOGANO STRUGGLES

Joey Logano wanted to chalk his Sprint Cup debut up to a learning experience, but it’s not that easy when you enter the series as arguably the most highly-touted rookie in the sport’s history.

Logano finished 32^nd on Sunday, three laps down, after running most of the event trying just to crack the top-40.

"By lap 200, I wanted it to end because we weren’t running worth a dang," Logano said. "We are going to take what we learned and go at it."

Logano drove the same car – changed from the No. 02 to the No. 96 to guarantee it a starting spot the race – that he took to Richmond a week earlier. That shot at a Cup debut was rained out after Logano ran 9^th with it in Friday practiced. He was surprised it wasn’t as good at New Hampshire.

"Deep down inside, I really wanted a better finish than that," Logano said. "After our practice session at Richmond, I thought we were going to have a lot better race car than that."

Logano’s struggles were certainly understandable for a rookie, but Logano is no ordinary rookie. Though only 18, he’s been testing Joe Gibbs Racing cars for a few years now and he won twice at New Hampshire in a Camping World East Series car last season.

"You’re racing the same car, so it’s not much different," Logano said. "Racing is racing. I learned a lot, and I take a lot from this for when we come back here next time. I just wish we could have had a little better run than that."

BUSCH FALLS FROM TOP

Kyle Busch had nothing to say after a disastrous start to the Chase.

Busch was thrust into adversity with a broken suspension part, a problem compounded by accidents and pit road penalties on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and he never recovered.

After kicking off the Chase as the top seed with an 80-point lead, Busch finished 34^th Sunday and dropped to eighth in the standings – some 74 points behind co-leaders Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson.

But Busch did not speak with the media following the race. He let crew chief Steve Addington do that.

"We weren’t very good when we unloaded here, but we felt like we did the right things and were going to have a good race car," said Steve Addington, Busch’s crew chief.

Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart – himself known to be emotional following bad days – had some advice for Busch after essentially having his dominating 26-race "regular season" wiped out.

"He needs to just go home and forget about it for the week," said Stewart, who finished eighth after battling back from a pit road speeding penalty that put him a lap down during a series of green flag pit stops in the middle of the race. "You feel bad for him because you know they’re better than that, but you know if there’s anybody that can rebound from a day like today, it’s that 18 car and Kyle and Steve Addington and those guys."

Busch started on the pole after qualifying was rained out, but he soon began sliding back through the field. On lap 20, his car got extremely loose off of turn 2, causing him to slap the outside wall.

He stayed on the lead lap until a competition caution on lap 35, when he pitted and the crew diagnosed the car as having a broken bolt in the rear suspension components. It wasn’t completely fixed – and to make matters worse, Busch was tagged with a one-lap penalty for pulling up to the pace car prior to pitting.

On lap 84, Busch spun all by himself on the backstretch, an accident that collected Jamie McMurray and David Ragan.

"We had a part failure and it’s one of those things you can’t do nothing about," Addington said. "Part failure cost us, so we’ll just have to go back and re-evaluate."

Of the Chase drivers, only Matt Kenseth recorded a worse finish than Busch. Kenseth was caught in an accident on lap 229 and ended his day in 40^th.

Posted at 8:45 p.m. by TBarrett