He just has no interest in being involved in the search.

That might seem strange but he had no choice when Steve Letarte was named his crew chief three years ago, and Earnhardt has trust in Hendrick Motorsports management to make the right call and build on what Earnhardt and Letarte have built on three consecutive seasons in making the Chase.

Team owner Rick Hendrick said the team would address a replacement for Letarte at the end of the season. Letarte will leave the team after 2014 to take a job with NBC.

“It was Rick and upper management that decided to put me with Steve,” Earnhardt said Friday at Daytona International Speedway. “I didn't know how that was going to work out. I didn't know much about Steve.

“I knew him and Jeff (Gordon) were not really clicking at that point in time in their careers, so I didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but I just wanted to trust their judgment, and that's what I'm going to do.”

Earnhardt hopes that Letarte and Chad Knaus, crew chief of six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, have input, along with HMS executive vice president/general manager Doug Duchardt. The Johnson and Earnhardt teams are housed in the same building at HMS.

“I would love to have input from Chad Knaus and Steve,” Earnhardt said. “I think that Steve knows what makes this teamwork. Steve knows how I can be successful and how the individuals within the team can be successful. I think he'd be a good guy to sort of pick at and hope that Doug and Rick would include him in that conversation at times.

“It's important that Chad has got a lot of influence because he knows how well the shop works together and what the culture is in the shop and how a guy, a particular guy may mesh in that environment.”

It’s an environment that had Earnhardt produce one of his best seasons last year with 22 top-10s and a fifth-place finish in the standings.

“Whoever we bring in and whatever decisions that Rick and everybody makes in that regard, I hope they're ready to keep moving in that direction,” Earnhardt said.

“I hope that we're able to maintain the integrity of the team because I think all the guys that I got working with me are the best group in the garage, and we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.”


DILLON LEADS TESTING AT DAYTONA


Preseason testing at Daytona is always part work and part public relations, a way for teams to prepare for the sport’s biggest race and generate talk about the season ahead.

So while 16 hours of scheduled testing Thursday and Friday ended up reduced to just eight hours on Friday for Sprint Cup teams, some left with a feeling of accomplishment.

Topping the list was rookie Austin Dillon, who put the historic No. 3 car atop the speed chart early. Four hours into the session, he had posted the top speed at 192.93 mph.

Dillon, the grandson of team owner Richard Childress, took the famous No. 3 car out for Cup practice at Daytona for the first time since seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt died in the 2001 Daytona 500. Childress has brought back the number for the first time since the death of his good friend and NASCAR Hall of Famer.

The defending Nationwide Series champion, Dillon has driven the No. 3 throughout his career but now it has returned in Cup.

“I'm honored to be in the 3,” Dillon said. “This is special and walking into this Cup garage this weekend is pretty cool. There are so many heroes in this garage for me, and just being in this garage is going to be pressure.

“There's some more added with the 3, obviously because it's coming back for the first time in a long time.”

Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, an ESPN analyst, got into a Penske Racing car to run some laps in single-car runs as part of a Miller Lite promotion.

While those storylines prompted intrigue, Daytona testing typically is fairly monotonous until teams practice drafting, which can result in torn-up racecars. But that wasn’t an issue Friday afternoon as teams didn’t draft.

The Friday session followed a total washout Thursday because of rain. Nationwide Series teams are scheduled to test Saturday and Sunday at Daytona, followed by Camping World Truck Series teams Monday and Tuesday.


EARNHARDT LANDS RIDE


Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and son of Kerry Earnhardt, will join JD Motorsports in 2014 for what he plans to be a full season in the Nationwide Series.

The 24-year-old driver has 27 career starts in Nationwide and 10 starts in trucks. His best finish in 17 Nationwide races was 16th at Talladega Superspeedway.

“It’s a great opportunity for me,” Earnhardt said in a statement. “This sport runs in my family, and it’s where I want to be every week. Racing with Johnny and (team co-owner) Gary (Keller) and the guys will give me a shot at running well every week and adding on the experience I need.”

The organization will field two cars in 2014 with Earnhardt driving the No. 4 car and Landon Cassill driving the No. 01.


STEWART HAS PET PIG


Tony Stewart has a new pet. And for a guy who used to own a monkey, this one could be considered just as strange.

It’s a pig. Yes, a pig. As in oink, oink. Not a huge pig, but still a pig.

The pig’s name?

“Porkchop — that’s his first and final warning,” Stewart told fans during a question-and-answer session Thursday night at Daytona.

Porkchop, which Stewart got just prior to the season finale last year at Homestead, is three pounds and is expected to grow to 20-25 pounds.

“Believe it or not, it’s the easiest pet I’ve ever had in my life because they’re smarter than dogs and cleaner than dogs,” Stewart said. “They’re very smart. … The only thing I can’t get him to do is sleep until noon like I do.”

Having a pig has produced some awkward moments. Like when Stewart is enjoying pork products.

“The day after Thanksgiving, I had pork ribs for dinner and he’s sitting there with his nose in the air, and I’m sitting there trying to figure out if he’s thinking, ‘Man, that smells familiar’ or ‘It smells good,’” Stewart quipped.

Contributors: Bob Pockrass, Jeff Owens