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Kevin Manion named crew chief for Sam Hornish Jr.

Sam Hornish Jr. will have a new crew chief starting at Kansas Speedway.

Richard Petty Motorsports announced Tuesday that Kevin Manion would replace Drew Blickensderfer atop Hornish's pit box. Hornish has struggled mightily this season with the team. He's 28th in the points and has finished on the lead lap in three of the first 10 races.

His two finishes inside the top 15 this season have both come at restrictor plate tracks. He finished a season-high sixth on Sunday at Talladega.

"We began the season with changes to the No. 9 race team, most notably with the addition of Sam as our driver," RPM director of competition Sammy Johns said in a statement. "We are now looking to give Sam all the tools he needs to be successful.  We feel that Kevin will bring in some new ideas to help better our performance.  We welcome him to the Petty family."

The team said Blickensderfer had been offered another position within the organization.

Manion has previously served as crew chief for the No. 1 car and Martin Truex Jr. and Jamie McMurray. He's been the crew chief for Tommy Baldwin Racing's No. 7 and Alex Bowman in 2015. While with Truex, the two won the 2004 and 2005 Xfinity Series championships.

Hornish joined RPM to replace Marcos Ambrose. He drove part-time in the Xfinity Series in 2014 and last drove full-time in the Cup Series in 2010. While Hornish is near the bottom of the standings, his teammate, Aric Almirola, is in 12th.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!