DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It wasn't easy for Steve Letarte to walk into Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s motorhome at Charlotte last October, amid rumors that he might eventually leave the No. 88 team for television. It was painful for the crew chief to sit across a desk from team owner Rick Hendrick, Letarte's employer since he was 16 years old, and tell him he was trading the pit box for the broadcast booth. That much was made clear Friday, when Letarte detailed why he'll exchange his headset for a microphone when he leaves Earnhardt's team after this season to join the NBC Sports broadcast team. The crew chief who engineered the performance turnaround of NASCAR's most popular driver was hired by NBC executive producer Sam Flood to be a race analyst beginning with the 2015 campaign, where Letarte will work alongside 21-time race winner Jeff Burton and announcer Rick Allen in a three-man booth. More...