Team owner Rick Hendrick won't split Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his embattled crew chief despite their slow start to the season.

Tony Eury Jr. always has been under intense scrutiny as crew chief for NASCAR's most popular driver, but it has hit a new level this year as the No. 88 team has just one top-10 finish through five races. Earnhardt heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend ranked 19th in the standings.

"Both Junior and Tony have told me that if they thought they needed to be split, that they understood," Hendrick said in a national teleconference. "That's my call, and I'm not ready to make that call. Not even close. I am convinced that they're better together.

"We've got the right combination, and I think we're going to be able to prove that to you guys soon."

Hendrick said Earnhardt, a notorious late riser, was at the shop early yesterday morning and participated in a three-hour team meeting aimed at turning the season around.

"He's all over it," Hendrick said. "Dale is as focused, maybe even more focused then I've seen since he's been here. Dale's taken all the suggestions that anyone has to heart, and we've got to give him the best stuff out there."

Earnhardt and Eury, who are cousins, have worked together in some form for all but a portion of the 2005 season.

Because the two bickered so much at the end of 2004, they were split the next season by Earnhardt's stepmother, Teresa. The results were disastrous for Earnhardt, who had the worst season of his nine-year career, and they were reunited with 10 races left in the year.

More NASCAR

NASCAR's annual All-Star race will end with a 10-lap final shootout to create a dramatic finish that previously defined the $1 million event.

The race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., will still be 100 laps, but it will be split into four segments and culminate with the final sprint to the finish.

Formula One

Red Bull says it will lodge a protest at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix if the cars from rival teams Toyota, Brawn and Williams pass tests today amid concerns over the legality of their bodywork.

The three teams are at the center of a dispute over their rear diffusers, the part of the bodywork that comes up from the undertray to disperse air from under the car.

Strict new regulations limit the size of the diffusers. The three teams have found a potential loophole in the law by designing their rear bodywork to effectively act as part of the diffuser, increasing its size.

Red Bull team adviser Helmut Marko said a protest will be lodged if those teams are passed to compete after assessments today by officials from the sport's governing body FIA.

Also, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone says 26 cars will be on the starting grid next year and a medals system will determine the championship. Ecclestone said that at least three new teams, including American entry USF1, are confirmed for the 2010 season.

There are 10 teams and 20 cars on the grid for this week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Ecclestone declined to divulge any information about the teams he's contacted.

He said F1's 2010 regulations would include an Olympic-style medals system, with gold for first place. The driver with the most golds will win the championship.

Nationwide

Jeffrey Earnhardt, 19, grandson of the late seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt and cousin of Earnhardt Jr., will make his Nationwide Series debut May 30 at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.