Kyle Burns Junior

((HT: ESPN/NASCAR Media Images))

Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. exchanged sharp volleys Friday about Earnhardt's crew chief change.

"It's never Junior; it's always the crew chief," said Busch, who fired the opening shots when asked about team owner Rick Hendrick's dismissal of Tony Eury Jr. as Earnhardt's crew chief a day earlier.

Busch's salvo was not taken lightly by Earnhardt.

"He's always had a chip on his shoulder for me," Earnhardt said of Busch, "so I expect any time he gets an opportunity to throw a jab in there he's going to do it. That's just his personality."

Earnhardt replaced Busch at Hendrick Motorsports last year, but since then Busch, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, has won 11 Sprint Cup races to Earnhardt's one.

Asked about Eury's replacement, Lance McGrew, with whom Busch worked in the Nationwide Series at Hendrick in 2004, Busch expressed sympathy for McGrew.

"He's got his hands full, I guess, having to deal with what's going on," Busch said. "And if Junior doesn't run well, then he [McGrew] is going to be the 'problem' again."

Said Earnhardt: "That doesn't really surprise me. We're working toward how we can make our deal work, and that has nothing to do with Kyle."

Busch said he understood the move to bolster a driver with Earnhardt's star power but weak performance of late.

"You've got to make the most popular driver in the sport competitive, so you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess," Busch said.

Busch added, "He's the one who brought that crew chief on; he's the one who pulled so hard to bring Eury Jr. in [along with Earnhardt in his move from Dale Earnhardt Inc.].

"It looked like it was working there in the beginning," Busch continued, "and it just hasn't worked since the summer of last year, really. So, whatever makes them better, I guess."

Busch, since being squeezed out in favor of Earnhardt and over salary differences with Hendrick, has vastly out-performed Earnhardt since the beginning of 2008. And Busch has made no secret of his pride in that.

Not only has Busch won 11 races to Earnhardt's one, he is currently sixth in points, well within Chase criteria, while Earnhardt is 19th after 12 races. No driver has ever come from 19th at this point of the season to make the Chase. Greg Biffle made the biggest leap, from 19th to 14th, in 2007.

Here's the sound from Dover, thanks to ESPN.
As a special bonus, Sage Steele gets a quick sound bite from Angelique Chengelis...