DOVER, Del. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. has long reigned as NASCAR’s most popular driver. But he thinks too many of his fans have started airing in 140-character bursts a most unpopular opinion — that crew chief Greg Ives should take the blame for the No. 88’s struggles this season.

Not so fast.

“We’ve had a difficult year and there’s just been a little rumbling in the background from fans,” Earnhardt said Tuesday. “They just love to target the crew chief. Our struggles are no one individual’s responsibility. I think me and my crew chief, we have such a very passionate fan base, very large fan base, it’s a challenging position for anybody. I’ve seen that, with all the guys that I’ve worked with. They’ve all had to deal with criticism.”

Ives, in his third season with Earnhardt, was criticized during the Brickyard 400 for his decision to send the No. 88 to the pits even though it was good on fuel before the end of the second stage. Had Earnhardt stayed out, he would have come off a restart inside the top five. Instead, he was 24th and soon wrecked out of the race when he connected with Trevor Bayne. Earnhardt’s crew also struggled with lug nuts on one pit stop that cost him several spots in the field.

Earnhardt, who is retiring after the season, shut down criticism of the team on Twitter, where he has 2.1 million followers, writing, “He never gave up on me. We’re a tight group and will finish together.”

“Maybe Twitter ain’t the place to be drawing attention to things like that,” Earnhardt said. “You just hear enough chatter over the course of a long period of time. It wasn’t something that just happened that particular weekend. Sometimes you feel like you’ve got to stand up for your guys. At least let Greg know, it’s not OK I guess, to be a fan, then dog the crew.”

Earnhardt’s final season at Hendrick Motorsports has been more dud than dominant, and Indy was the fifth time this season he has crashed out of a race. Earnhardt has just four top-10 finishes and is 22nd in the standings — his worst full-season performance since 2009. He’ll need to win one of the next six races to end his Cup career with any shot at racing in NASCAR’s postseason and winning his first championship.

Earnhardt says he’s healthy and isn’t focused on his shift into the NBC Sports broadcast booth next season. Earnhardt said negotiations began after he decided to leave racing and continued for several months before the two sides agreed to the deal in the past few days.

“I think that’s what they hired me for, was to be myself and give my point of view,” he said.