Richard Childress Racing has announced competition leadership changes that take place immediately.
Announced Wednesday:
Keith Rodden is promoted from interim competition director to vice president of competition. He will provide forward thinking and direction in all areas of performance and budgeting and lead strategic performance-based partnerships.
John Klausmeier joins RCR as a technical director, overseeing all technical engineering activities and focusing on vehicle systems engineering, design and metrology. All competition departments will report to Klausmeier, who will report to Rodden. Klausmeier previously had been a crew chief at Stewart-Haas Racing before that organization shut down after this past season.
Richard Boswell is the new crew chief for Austin Dillon’s No. 3 team. Boswell had been the crew chief for Chase Briscoe this past season at Stewart-Haas Racing before its closure.
The changes come after car owner Richard Childress told NBC Sports in July that he was more involved in turning around his organizations, saying: “I’ve got to have the right people helping make those decisions.”
Richard Childress says he is ‘more involved’ in RCR as team seeks turnaround
Both Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon must win to make the NASCAR Cup playoffs this season.
The moves come after RCR won only one Cup race this past season — Dillon’s victory at Richmond in August. Kyle Busch went winless for the first time in 20 seasons and missed the playoffs for the first since 2012. Busch had a career low in top-five finishes (five) and top-10 finishes (10) this past season. Dillon’s five top 10s were his fewest since 2017 when he had four that season.
The team also announced that Randall Burnett will remain crew chief for Kyle Busch.
“Keith Rodden has stepped up in the interim competition director role this past season and has shown an eagerness to help improve and fine-tune all aspects of RCR,” said Childress in a statement from the team. “That enthusiasm and loyalty earned him the title of vice president of competition. I know he will do a great job serving our competition executives.
“John Klausmeier and Richard Boswell have both been great winners in the garage, and I know their experience and skills will contribute to RCR’s overall success. I feel confident that all of our crew chiefs will do a great job leading their respective teams and we will give our partners, employees and fans plenty to be excited about in 2025. I’d like to acknowledge and thank Justin Alexander for his contribution to RCR. He and Austin Dillon won five Cup races together and we wish him the best.”
