It has been nearly three decades since Richard Childress Racing tasted championship glory. In a bid to turn the tides back in their favor, the team has made some important personnel inclusions in both racing and business aspects. Last season, they onboarded two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch to pilot their No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro. And now they have brought in another member of Kyle Busch Motorsports.

It sure made sense on RCR’s part to bring in Kyle Busch, a championship-caliber driver, who could once again guide the team back to the top of NASCAR circuits, but it was not to be, at least in the 2023 season. However, the recent addition of the former president of KBM and the promotion of Jennifer White to Vice President of Marketing & Communications are also concrete steps that will put RCR’s business acumen in the right direction.

RCR announced key leadership appointments

Richard Childress Racing announced in a press release that Mike Verlander will be named as the new chief operations officer of RCR. Verlander is an industry veteran and has been working in the motorsports industry for 20 years. Before this role, he was serving as president and chief revenue officer at Kyle Busch Motorsports, which was recently acquired by Spire Motorsports.

Moreover, the team also promoted Jennifer White. Having spent 15 years with Richard Childress Racing, she will become the first candidate to hold the CMO title and position at the organization. “Mike Verlander is a highly respected industry veteran who will bring a wealth of knowledge and industry experience to RCR as he helps us chart the course for the long-term future during a very dynamic time in our sport,” said Torrey Galida, president of RCR.

“I’d also like to congratulate Jennifer White on her new position as chief marketing officer for RCR. She has done an outstanding job setting the standard for our partners and building a strong team of marketing and communications professionals”, he further added.

Verlander will work alongside Richard Childress (Chairman and CEO) and Torrey Galida (President) to provide strategic direction and oversight in the day-to-day operations of the team. He has developed a reputation for delivering results and building strategic relationships with world-class brands.

With this and a few other changes, it seems RCR had a silly season of their own. In November 2023, they promoted Andy Petree to Executive Vice President, while Justin Alexander and Eric Kominek were also moved into competition-based roles. With the new setup now in place, Kyle Busch will be looking forward to reuniting with his former employee after KBM was sold off for $14.5M.

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KBM is still kicking and alive, despite the Spire takeover

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Kyle Busch had to make a hard call on selling his Truck series team to Spire Motorsports at the end of the 2023 season. It was not just the team but the entire shop and his race-car manufacturing unit that was quickly turned into a new home by the Spire employees. While the team has been sold off, the idea and essence of KBM are alive and well.

Speaking about the split from KBM, Kyle Busch said in a recent interview with Fox Sports, “I definitely miss the truck series team a little bit. KBM still exists. We’re just racing at the grassroots level with me and Brex. But I’m obviously missing the people that were there and going into the shop and seeing them every single day or every week, or whatever it might have been. That’s the part that I feel like I was going to miss from the start and kind of still do a little bit.”

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RCR, having made all the important changes just before the start of the Cup Series, will now be hoping to get a strong and assertive start from their drivers, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillion. Do you think they’ll have a better campaign this time around?