'Slugger' Labbe out as Austin Dillon's crew chief with Richard Childress Racing

Richard "Slugger" Labbe, who less than two weeks ago crew-chiefed his 500th NASCAR Cup Series race, has been replaced by Justin Alexander atop the pit box for driver Austin Dillon's No. 3 Chevrolet team, Richard Childress Racing announced Monday morning.

Labbe, 48, had been with Richard Childress Racing since 2011, but RCR indicated in its announcement that he “is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.”

Dillon, who made the playoffs in 2016, is a disappointing 22nd in the current Cup Series points standings, with his lone top-five finish a fifth at Martinsville Speedway.

In his 500 races as a Cup Series crew chief across some two decades, Labbe recorded five victories, including Michael Waltrip’s Daytona 500 win in 2003 and Paul Menard’s win at Indianapolis in 2011.

Perhaps foreshadowing that a change was coming, RCR earlier this season replaced Labbe — who had worked with Dillon since the midpoint of the 2015 season — with Sammy Johns for one race, at Richmond.

Alexander takes over from his job as RCR's crew chief on the No. 2 Chevy in the Xfinity Series, driven multiple times by Dillon this season. His first race as crew chief for Dillon and the No. 3 will be the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday at Charlotte.