Keith Rodden has entered a new role at Richard Childress Racing, taking over as their interim competition director as the team struggles to find their footing in 2024.
The move came after Andy Petree retired from the role, and now it’ll be up to Rodden to help cultivate success for drivers like Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon. Specifically, Busch has fallen on hard times over the 2024 campaign, after originally joining RCR with immense hype behind him.
Currently over 100 points below the cut-line and looking to turnaround their season, Rodden relayed to FOX’s Bob Pockrass that Busch has remained “engaged in working with the team and looking for ways to make the cars faster,” but the issue for the No. 8 is he doesn’t have the speed and comfort needed.
“Just the feel is not there for me,” Busch said, via Pockrass. “The more comfortable you are, the more positions you can put yourself in and take chances. I feel like I’m having a hard enough time making laps on my own to ever think about trying to make a pass on someone.”
Regardless, Rodden isn’t losing the faith, recognizing the goal is to get back to being the “top-tier” team RCR knows it can be, and winning races is exactly how the team will fix that. Busch provided he could get it done in the No. 8 last season, and it’s Rodden’s job to return the team to form.
“We need to be winning races,” Rodden added, via Pockrass. “We’re a top-tier Chevrolet team and we owe it to all our partners to win. Part of changing the narrative and changing the culture of RCR is it has a rich history of winning, and we need to get there.
“This the same group that won three races last year and everybody’s already forgotten, These guys know how to win. They know how to get the car together. … We don’t need to just hit the panic button. We just need to get the car under him to where he can run.”
Alas, it remains to be seen if Kyle Busch, and Austin Dillon as well, can get back on track under the RCR umbrella, but Keith Rodden is a fresh voice leading the charge, and that could be what the team needs at the moment.
Kyle Busch hopes RCR improves after retirement of competition director Andy Petree
Continuing, Kyle Busch is hoping the big change RCR made last week, with competition director Andy Petree stepping down from his role in the NASCAR organization, will help them improve their less-than-stellar season
With Petree retiring effective immediately, it gives RCR a new opportunity. Loyalty is important in motorsports, and keeping the right personnel is just as important as having the best driver.
One way or another, Kyle Busch and RCR are in a new era, that’s for sure. Petree is out and now the organization has to focus on results. At this point, Busch is about in a must-win situation if he wants to make the playoffs, and it seems like Busch is happy with the change, even if he does like Petree.
“I mean, change sometimes lends itself to an open opportunity, hopefully for the better,” Busch said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “So, you know, I respect the hell out of Andy, and what he’s done and what he’s done in this sport and the legacy that he holds. We had a lot of fun together and some good laughs and some good relationships and um, hopefully, we can better our program without him there and carry on in the future.”
Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing have to get it going. At this point, there are few options to make it into the playoffs outside of a win. Or a complete turn around over the course of the final eight races of the regular season.
On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.
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