Richard Childress Racing has named Slugger Labbe to a leading role in their research and development efforts, which will be effective following the NASCAR race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway later this month. Justin Alexander, currently a race engineer on the #27 Menards Chevy team, will take over the crew chief role with Paul Menard as the driver. Alexander, 33, is a native of Charlotte and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina State University. He started his NASCAR career at Hendrick Motorsports as the shock specialist for the #24 and #48 teams in 2003, became lead engineer on the #48 team in 2005, moved to a R&D engineer in 2006 and then was named lead engineer for the #24 team in 2009. During his tenure there, Alexander was part of five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships. He joined RCR in January of this year. A native of Saco, Maine, Labbe has been in NASCAR since 1986 and in the crew chief capacity since 1998. During that time, Labbe worked at Robert Yates Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. It was at DEI when Labbe led Michael Waltrip to the 2003 Daytona 500 victory. ‘I’m looking forward to slowing down in my NASCAR career a little bit and spending more time with my family,’ Labbe said. ‘This is a good move for RCR, Paul and the #27 team and I’m going to be there to help Justin with the upcoming transition. With NASCAR’s new rules for 2015, this is a unique opportunity for me to help RCR grow and be successful by helping out with their R&D efforts.’(RCR)(10-1-2014)
