Attention is turning to the next season already, and Richard Childress Racing has become the next team to begin overhauling things. Per reports, crew chief Richard Boswell was being promoted to Vice President of Competition. Naturally, someone was needed to help out his charge, Austin Dillon. Earlier, RCR president Mike Verlander came on the record to address the matter.

“There are a lot of great conversations happening right now,” He told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I won’t define a timeline. There’s a number of folks we’re talking to, internally at this company that we believe have earned the opportunity to sit on top of that pit box and oversee the race team. We are talking to folks outside as well. I don’t know that I’ll put a timeline on it.”

To sum up, RCR are exploring all available options to help out Austin Dillon. This includes promoting from within the organisation or seeking personnel elsewhere.

However, one thing is for certain: they are going to take their time and pick carefully. According to Verlander, Boswell is expected to take a leadership role in the team and is the right man for the job.

Now, whether this will be resolved in 2026 itself or just before the 2027 season, remains to be seen.

“Yes that’s certainly under consideration,” Verlander added. “We’ve had a lot of those conversations. Especially with the internal candidates, they’re already in-house. Why not consider that, so that’s certainly a conversation that’s ongoing as recent as earlier today. I would not be surprised if I saw that happen.”

While RCR cannot win the championship anymore, they can still heavily impact The Chase.

Can RCR salvage what’s left of the season for Austin Dillon?

2026 has already been a horrid campaign for Richard Childress Racing. The team’s performance had already been below par. Then they suffered a massive blow with the sudden passing of Kyle Busch. Now Austin Dillon has the task of shouldering the team’s burdens.

Currently in the championship, Dillon is 25th in the standings. He just has five Top 10s. Of course, this does mean that he failed to make the Chase and is now seeing out the remainder of the campaign. The team is having an eye on the 2027 season, which is why Boswell was promoted.

Another new member was Art Trejo. The organisation created a brand new role, just for him. The role in question was Director of Development and Innovation.

“Art Trejo brings a completely different set of experiences and a new way of thinking that I believe can help take our racing operations forward,” Richard Childress said in a statement. “We’re going to keep pushing, keep investing, and keep looking for ways to get better.”

What’s actually interesting about this appointment has to do with his background. A Princeton University and UCLA graduate, Trejo worked as a Naval officer for several years. After that, he went on to bigger and better things, namely a job with SpaceX. This has helped him garner experience working in technology-driven environments and was probably what drew Richard Childress Racing’s eye to him.

Again, the promotion of Boswell leaves a void in the Austin Dillon crew chief role. However, the team is not short of options to find a replacement. Candidates include Jim Pohlman, Andy Street, and Johnny Klausmeier. All three have worked with Dillon’s new teammate, Austin Hill.

Pohlman was also Kyle Busch’s crew chief up until the latter’s passing. With Hill coming in full-time in 2027, RCR could choose between these three crew chiefs for two drivers.