Tony Eury Sr. to return as a crew chief for JR Motorsport

Tony Eury Sr. says he’ll continue as a crew chief at JR Motorsports in 2010, even as driver Brad Keselowski leaves the NASCAR Nationwide Series team for Penske Racing.

Eury Sr. also serves as competition director for JRM and had to be convinced to serve as a crew chief by team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“I guess I’m going to be," Eury Sr. said of next season. “I can’t say 100 percent. We really don’t know what all is going on with our program yet. We do know the [No.] 88’s going to run full time. We possibly could have two full-time cars. We could even have a third car run part time."

Kelly Bires is taking Keselowski’s place and will likely drive the No. 88 with Eury Sr. as crew chief.

But Eury Sr. said the team has talked to a lot of drivers about the team’s second car, the No. 5 entry, for next season.

“Some good young guys that people don’t really know about that we’ve talked to," Eury Sr. said. “They’re going to be as good as [Keselowski]. We’re looking forward to it."

Eury Sr. said there have been no hard feelings about Keselowski’s departure.

“That’s what JR Motorsports does," Eury Sr. said. “Dale Jr. likes to find young talent, put them in the car and make race-car drivers out of them. That’s pretty much what we’ve done here. We wish [Kesolowski] the best. We just wish he was going into the Hendrick Motorsports stable instead of Penske’s.

“Nobody’s burned any bridges here, so you never know what’s going to happen."

Bires could get the chance to move to Sprint Cup, too, he said.