Change early for the race (5)
I believe the answer is:
relay
'the race' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'change early' is the wordplay.
'change' indicates anagramming the letters.
'early' with letters rearranged gives 'RELAY'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for relay that I've seen before include "Pass on - put down again" , "Hand, pass on" , "Receive and pass on - race" , "track event" , "Broadcast" .)