Danica Patrick's crew chief is replaced

Tony Eury Jr. has been replaced as Danica Patrick's crew chief for the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Nationwide Series team, JR Motorsports announced Monday.

JR Motorsports replaced Eury with Ryan Pemberton.

"They're trying to fix the competition of the cars," Eury told FoxSports.com. "They thought they could do better without me there. They hired Ryan and Ryan's their guy."

The team recently hired Pemberton as its competition director, and he will be the team's crew chief this weekend.

JR Motorsports confirmed Eury's exit in a statement.

"Unfortunately Tony Jr. is no longer with the company," Dale Earnhardt Jr., Eury's cousin, stated in the press release. "I had hoped he would be here for a long time, but as we've discussed the direction of JR Motorsports moving forward, it was clear our differences in ideas were too vast to overcome.

"I love him like a brother, and you'll never hear me say a bad thing about him. I know he'll have much success in anything he does going forward."

Patrick finished 12th at Chicagoland in the Nationwide Series on Saturday, and she is 11th in the points standings.