Justin Alexander will step down as the crew chief for Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing's No. 3 team at the end of the 2022 season, citing a desire to focus on his family and personal life. Alexander's decision was first reported by Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports and then confirmed by Dillon himself during a press conference at Darlington Raceway on Saturday.
Alexander has reportedly not made a decision on his 2023 plans, but the team is hoping to keep Alexander in a different role. Speaking to reporters, Dillon shared that Alexander wished to have more time for his personal life and young family, citing the demands of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, revealing that the two had spent the lone off-week of the 2022 season vacationing together in the Bahamas.
"He just realizes to him what's important and that's family, and you have to respect and love that," Dillon said. "At RCR, we want him to stay on in any capacity and I think we have a good shot of having him around. He's a great person to have; as a crew chief, as a friend, as an engineer. All the great qualities that Justin brings to a team.
"We're going to do our best to keep him on at some sort of a capacity moving forward. I think he can help RCR for a long time. But for right now, he's focused on his two babies and that's where he should be focused."
The news of Alexander's impending departure comes just one week after Alexander guided Dillon to victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, a win which put Dillon in the NASCAR playoffs at the end of the regular season. All four of Dillon's Cup Series wins have come with Alexander as his crew chief, as the two have worked together from 2017 to 2018 and then again from 2020 onwards.
Alexander began his career as a Cup crew chief in 2014, when he took over as crew chief for Paul Menard late in the season before assuming that role full-time in 2015. After nearly two full seasons working with Menard, Alexander took over as crew chief for Dillon starting with the 2017 Coca-Cola 600, successfully executing a fuel mileage strategy that earned Dillon his first career win.
Alexander went on to win the 2018 Daytona 500 as Dillon's crew chief before the two were split up in 2019. They were then reunited for 2020 and have worked together since.
Dillon now becomes the second prominent driver seeking a new crew chief for 2023, as it was announced last week that Greg Ives would step down from his role as crew chief for Alex Bowman at Hendrick Motorsports. An internal option to replace Alexander as Dillon's crew chief could be Jim Pohlman, who filled in for Alexander as Dillon's crew chief earlier this year at Kansas when Alexander was sidelined due to COVID protocols.
