Larry McReynolds dishes on Danica and JR Motorsports

Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief Larry McReynolds has worked with some of the most successful organizations in NASCAR. Now a TV analyst with Speed, McReynolds offered up his thoughts this week on the recent departure of Tony Eury Jr. and Tony Eury Sr. from JR Motorsports.

While McReynolds agreed a change was needed based on performance, he had some straight-forward comments about that organization's driver lineup, which this season includes Danica Patrick and Cole Whitt.

“I think their current driver lineup is running as well they’re going to run. In the Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick is probably as good as she’s going to be. She’s going to run between ninth and 15th and maybe score a top five on a really good day," McReynolds said. "I don’t care if you put Chad Knaus in as her crew chief. She’s going to run where she is running.

JR Motorsports announced Tuesday that Ryan Pemberton will serve as Patrick's interim crew chief this weekend at Kentucky. A decision past Kentucky hasn't been made.

"As much as I’d love to say she could run fender-to-fender with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Austin Dillon or Elliott Sadler, I don’t think it’s there. Danica is great for our sport and I’m excited about her running fulltime in the Cup Series. But she has run 51 Nationwide Series races, and that’s a lot of races.

"By the same token, Cole Whitt is going to run where he is running. He was thrown into the deep end pretty fast. I think he’s between a sixth and 12th place driver right now. That’s where he ran with the Eurys, and that’s where he’s going to run without them."