Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. will join Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports next season.

The team announced Tuesday that it has signed Eury to a multi-year contract.

This keeps intact a combination that has been together for nearly all of Earnhardt's NASCAR Nextel Cup career. Eury was Earnhardt's car chief when Earnhardt ran his first Cup race in 1999 and stayed there until becoming crew chief for Michael Waltrip's former DEI team for most of 2005.

He returned to Earnhardt's team as crew chief after Earnhardt failed to qualify for the Chase that year.

Since being reunited with his cousin that season, Earnhardt has one win, 18 top-five finishes and 30 top-10 results in 71 Cup starts.

That move was among a few Hendrick Motorsports revealed. Casey Mears will move from the No. 25 car to the No. 5 car next season.

His crew chief, Virginia Tech grad Darian Grubb, will move to a management role. Grubb will coordinate engineering efforts for the teams of Mears and Earnhardt. Mears' new crew chief will be Alan Gustafson, the crew chief for the No. 5 team and Kyle Busch this season.

Rudd to miss race

A separated left shoulder will force Ricky Rudd to miss Saturday's race, the first time in Rudd's career he will miss a start because of an injury.

Rudd owns NASCAR's record for consecutive starts at 788, a streak that stretched from 1981-2005 when he stepped away from the sport. He returned this season but is retiring at the end of the season.

With Rudd retiring, this would have been his last appearance at the track closest to his hometown of Chesapeake.

"It's pretty disappointing to me to miss the race this weekend in Richmond," Rudd said in a release issued by his team. "I've never missed a race due to an injury but I still feel lucky because it could've been a lot worse.''

Kenny Wallace will replace Rudd, who was injured in a crash during Sunday night's race at California Speedway.

Rudd saw a Charlotte area physician Tuesday. Rudd will not need surgery on his shoulder and will begin rehabilitation this week.

Yeley finds ride

Hall of Fame Racing announced Tuesday that J.J. Yeley will replace Tony Raines as driver after this season.

This keeps Yeley close to Joe Gibbs Racing. Yeley has been with Gibbs the past two seasons. Gibbs provides chassis, engines and technical support to Hall of Fame Racing, which is in its second season in Cup.

The team ranks 25th in the car owner points using Raines for all the races but the two road course events.

A dud Chase?

Earnhardt enters Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway as the only driver who could race his way into the Chase. He is 128 points behind Kevin Harvick for the last transfer spot.

Pit stops

Ward Burton said he'd like to return to Morgan-McClure Motorsports next season but that will depend on the team acquiring sponsorship. ... Bobby Labonte will make his 500th career Cup start Saturday. ... Brad Keselowski, who was involved in a spectacular crash in Saturday's Busch race, has received medical clearance to compete in Friday's Busch race at Richmond. Keselowski drives for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Navy-sponsored team. The team has signed Keselowski, a midseason replacement, to drive for it for the rest of the Busch season.