The racing team made some changes this week. They decided that Justin Alexander would be Austin Dillon’s new crew chief. Keith Rodden, who was Dillon’s crew chief before, will now have a bigger job in the team.
Alexander has worked with Dillon before. They’ve won four NASCAR Cup Series races together, including the Daytona 500 in 2018. They worked together in parts of the 2017 season, all of 2018, and again from 2022 to 2022. Alexander was also the team’s competition director recently.
Rodden started working with Dillon in the 2023 season. Dillon didn’t have a great season, finishing 29th in the championship standings. He got a penalty in the middle of the season, which made things worse. His average finish was also his worst ever, at 21.8.
Right now, Dillon is 28th in the standings for this year’s races. After seven races, he hasn’t finished in the top ten yet.
The team also named Joel Keller as the lead engineer for the No. 3 team.
Andy Petree, RCR’s executive vice president, explained the changes. He said they made these changes to make the team better for the rest of the season and to secure spots in the NASCAR Playoffs. He mentioned that Alexander and Dillon work well together. Petree thanked Rodden for leading the No. 3 team and believes he’ll still be valuable in his new role.
These changes are happening right away. Alexander will be back as Dillon’s crew chief for the race at Martinsville Speedway this weekend.