Reddin resigns as CEO of Richard Petty Motorsports

Tom Reddin resigned as CEO of Richard Petty Motorsports on Friday for what the team called personal reasons.

RPM's four drivers were informed of the resignation in a team meeting at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Foster Gillett, son of majority team owner George Gillett Jr., is expected to assume some of Reddin's duties.

"Foster is coming back from Montreal, and he's going to be more hands-on at the company," said star RPM driver Kasey Kahne. "I think that it will be fine. I think Foster does a good job with things and he's a good guy to talk to and work with. Hopefully everything turns out good."

Although RPM started the season strong after the January merger between Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises, performance has tailed off the past several weeks. Kahne has been openly critical of how his team is not running at the same level it was last year.

But Kahne said he was told Reddin's departure was not related to performance issues.

"I heard that he had some family things that he was working on," the driver said.

Reddin joined Gillett Evernham in 2008, the first year it was owned primarily by the Gillett family.

Reddin moved to NASCAR after several roles with Kraft Foods, CBS, Coca-Cola and most recently LendingTree, where he was chief executive officer.