To say Austin Dillon has had a rough start to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season would be an understatement. In the first seven races, the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing car has recorded a single top-20 result, a 16th place at Las Vegas. Every other finish has been 22nd or worse, including his season-worst 37th in the opening race at Daytona. This past weekend at Richmond, the driver reached a boiling point. And pushed the talk button on his steering wheel and didn’t hold back.
.@austindillon3 (P33) is not pleased.
🗯️ "We have dumbass strategy every f*cking week! We're indecisive, we don't know what to do!"
Richard Childress chimes in:
🗣️ "Settle down, drive the car and focus here. It ain't doing no good talking. Just focus." #NASCAR
— Davey Segal (@DaveyCenter) April 1, 2024
“We have dumbass strategy every f******* week,” Dillon said over the team radio. “We’re indecisive. We don’t know what to do.”
“Settle down, drive the car and focus here,” team owner Richard Childers responded. “It ain’t doing no good talking. Just focus.”
 Austin Dillon Reunited With Previous Crew Chief That Brought Him Success
Less than 48 hours after Austin Dillon made those heated remarks at Richmond, the race team announced there had been a change. Keith Rodden was out and “moving up” to take on a larger role across the organization to help maximize the capabilities of RCR’s Chevys and provide leadership, coordination and support. He was being replaced by a name familiar to Dillon fans, former crew chief Justin Alexander, who had been serving as RCR’s competition director.
NEWS: Justin Alexander has been appointed to the role of crew chief for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 team in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Read more: https://t.co/gM3BOqKAMV pic.twitter.com/cVbcHP0MOf
— RCR (@RCRracing) April 2, 2024
Alexander was crew chief for the No. 3 team from 2017 to 2018 and 2020 to 2022, guiding Dillon to all four of his NASCAR Cup Series wins, including a pair of the sport’s “Crown Jewel” races – the Coca-Cola 600 in 2017 and Daytona 500 in 2018.
“The organizational changes were made to help Richard Childress Racing’s overall NASCAR Cup Series program as we prepare for the rest of the season and locking two teams into the NASCAR Playoffs,” said Andy Petree, executive vice president for RCR. “Justin Alexander and Austin Dillon share a unique chemistry that has proven effective in the past. We want to thank Keith Rodden for his leadership of the No. 3 team and know that the contributions he will continue to make to RCR in his new role will be valuable across the organization.”
If past history is a good predictor of future behavior, then Dillon should, at a minimum, see better results soon and improve on his lackluster performance of running from the mid 20s and back. And who knows, with a bit of good fortune, they just might find themselves returning to Victory Lane.