Richert out as crew chief for Vickers' No. 83 Toyota

Team Red Bull has parted ways with Doug Richert, crew chief for Brian Vickers' No. 83 Toyota, the team announced Tuesday.

Randy Cox, Team Red Bull's research and development manager, will take over as crew chief for Vickers, currently 39th in the NASCAR Nextel Cup points standings, starting this weekend at Atlanta.

Doug Richert

Vickers has failed to qualify for the past two Cup races, at Lowe's Motor Speedway and Martinsville, and has missed three of the past four.

"In any NASCAR Nextel Cup Series organization, the crew chief and driver are the two key forces that make a race team competitive, and there must be a balance in both personalities and methods for achieving goals," Red Bull competition director Elton Sawyer said in a statement released by the team.

"Individually, each person can be strong at their job, but if they aren't efficient collectively, then changes must be made so both sides can reach their optimum potential. The formula we'd put together to try and make the No. 83 team successful was no longer working, so it was an amicable decision to part ways."

Richert, 47, won a series-best six races with Greg Biffle in 2005. At age 20 in 1980, his rookie year, Richert became the youngest crew chief in history to win a Cup championship when he helped Dale Earnhardt to the title.

Cox also had early success, winning with Jamie McMurray at Rockingham in

2004 in his debut as a Busch Series crew chief. Cox has also served as crew chief for David Stremme and Kenny Wallace in the Busch Series.