RCR makes crew chief change for Richmond race weekend

Operations Director Sammy Johns will fill in as crew chief for the No. 3 RCR Chevy and driver Austin Dillon at Richmond International Raceway. Johns, who worked as a crew chief for more than a decade while balancing managerial roles, joined RCR at the start of this season.

The move comes after two weeks of issues at the race track. At Texas Motor Speedway the No. 3 Chevy experienced issues with the rear suspension. Dillon finished 33rd, 12 laps off the pace. Last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, Dillon recovered with a 13th-place finish. However, the team failed the LIS five times, received a 30-minute hold for first practice at Richmond, lost their pit selection for the race and will start from the rear of the field for Sunday’s race. He is currently 21st in the standings.

Labbe joined RCR in 2010 with Paul Menard. The pair won the Brickyard 400 the following season. Although Labbe scaled back in 2015 to concentrate on projects in the shop, he was recruited to oversee Dillon’s transition into the Cup series in 2015. In their first full season together, Dillon qualified for the Chase and finished 14th. Dillon’s career-high finish came at Talladega Superspeedway last year when he finished second.