Keith Rodden will join Richard Childress Racing as crew chief of the No. 3 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon in 2023.
Rodden, an experienced crew chief and race engineer, most recently worked on the Motorsports Competition NASCAR strategy group at General Motors. In that role, Rodden focused on working with Chevy race teams on how to best approach track tests, practice sessions, and race events to optimize race results. He also worked as the General Motors WFT project lead, serving as test team crew chief.
A North Carolina State University grad and Denver, North Carolina native, Rodden began his professional motorsports career in 2003 with owner Andy Petree. He worked as either a crew chief or engineer with top-tier NASCAR teams such as Hendrick Motorsports, Evernham Motorsports, Richard Petty Motorsports, Team Red Bull, and Chip Ganassi Racing. Notably, Rodden worked for over a decade with Kasey Kahne, including as crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports.
“The addition of Keith Rodden to the Richard Childress Racing team highlights the ‘One Team’ approach to our race program and the commitment that our manufacturer partner has made to elevating all of the Chevy NASCAR teams with a shared approach to data gathering and technical development,” said Andy Petree, vice president of competition for Richard Childress Racing. “I’ve known and worked with Keith Rodden since the beginning of his NASCAR career, and I can confidently say that he will be a great match for Austin Dillon and our team at Richard Childress Racing. We’d like to thank Justin Alexander for his contributions to the No. 3 team and know that he will do a great job continuing to support RCR in his new role.”
Rodden assumes crew chief duties from Justin Alexander, who has been named the director of vehicle performance for Richard Childress Racing. Alexander guided Dillon to all four of his NASCAR Cup Series wins as crew chief of the No. 3 Chevrolet.
“In working with Richard Childress Racing, and in particular the No. 3 team, over the years, I’ve been really impressed with their competitive nature, dedication to hard work and emphasis on partner relationships,” said Rodden. “I’m looking forward to getting back into a team crew chief role and doing so with one of the strongest teams in the Team Chevy family. “
RCR PR
