CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch has looked like a shell of his former self the last two seasons since joining Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. He won three races in his debut season with the historic team but failed to keep his streak of seasons with at least one win going, ending at 19 in a row in 2024 and so far none in 2025.
While RCR hasn’t been the Chevrolet powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports has, its history of winning and Busch’s history of winning has brought scrutiny to his team, especially since his teammate, Austin Dillon, has won in the last two seasons.
Busch has two top fives and eight top 10s with five races remaining in the 2025 season. For the second consecutive season, Busch is winless and missed the playoffs.
The change began with Randall Burnett, who has been on top of the pit box since 2023, being out as the crew chief for the No. 8. Andy Street has — for now — replaced the outgoing Burnett, who’s heading to Trackhouse Racing with Connor Zilisch for 2026.
“It’s their race team — not mine,” Busch told reporters Oct. 4 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “I want to obviously be a part of a winning team, and we’re working towards that.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re young or old, if they’re a different demographic, nationality, it doesn’t matter to me,” he added. “It’s whoever is good and whoever can put us in the right place to be able to go out there and compete.
“I love Randall for everything that he is and who he was for our race team when I joined this team — the relationship that we had and friendship, his kid driving go-karts for me. It’s a matter of things changing and we’re looking for some more.”
It has been speculated that Dillon will take up the mantle at the organization when the time comes for new leadership. Whether that proves to be true or not, the driver of RCR’s No. 3 has thoughts on the crew chief shakeup as well.
“The main focus is to get Kyle Busch, a two-time champion, back to victory lane in any way possible — to make him happy, and the rest of RCR happy, and go fast, because that’s what we want in the end,” he told reporters. “We have to make the best hire for both — whatever Kyle needs and RCR needs from a competition standpoint to be competitive each and every weekend with the No. 3 and No. 8.
“He [Richard Childress] knows from my heart, it bleeds for RCR — it’s my family. We want to run well, and we’re going to put all of our heads together to make this thing the best we can.”
How much leadership he is taking within the company is limited currently due to racing still for his own team and doing right by those team members.
“When it comes to direction or culture, I’m going to give my opinion and about people when asked if they fit,” Dillon added. “Knowing lots of people in the garage helps with that.”
The team and Dillon say they still believe Busch has what it takes to win and can still win once everything is straightened out.
“The guys on his team will say he still has it,” Dillon said. “Kyle’s Kyle Busch. He’s always going to be one of the best to ever do it. We just have to give him the best shot at doing it on Sundays.”
