Kyle Busch has expanded on why Richard Childress Racing, which earlier had an edge in NASCAR, has since fallen behind competitors. The two-time NASCAR Cup champion also opened up about his long winless streak and how the team must change to return to the top.
Busch has not won a NASCAR Cup Series race since June 2023, when he last visited Victory Lane at Gateway. That marked his third win of the 2023 season with RCR, early in his tenure with the team. Since then, Busch’s name has not been atop the leader board, and he has now gone more than 90 races without a win. This is the longest drought of his career and a stark contrast to the 19 straight seasons in which he scored at least one win earlier in his career.
During his recent appearance on the SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this Saturday, January 31, the No. 8 Chevy driver pointed out that in the first few races with RCR, the team had a deep understanding of how their car worked and what adjustments would help.
“I feel like at that time with RCR, having the experience and the know how of developing this car, they were a little bit ahead of all of the rest of the teams of knowing what did what, knowing what changes did what. … Over time, we lost a little bit of that where other people have made their cars better,” Kyle Busch said.
Busch also suffered multiple near misses in the past two years. At Daytona in 2025, he finished just behind the winner by a few hundredths of a second and again a week later at Darlington, he challenged for the lead late in the race but ended a fraction of a second behind the winner, Chase Briscoe.
The 40-year-old’s best result last year was a fifth-place finish at Circuit of The Americas, Chicago Road Course and at the season finale in Phoenix. After the three top-fives and ten top-10s, they ended the 2026 season 21st in the final points standings.
Kyle Busch to Make 20th Cook Out Clash Appearance on Monday
Kyle Busch, who has won two Clash events (2012 and 2021), will make his 20th appearance at the 48th running of the event this Monday, February 2.
In the 2025 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, Busch finished 15th in the 23-car field. He ended up more than a lap behind the winner, Chase Elliott, who led 171 of the 200 laps.
The practice, qualifying, Last Chance Qualifier, and the main feature of the season’s first race were postponed yet again after snow on Saturday and moved to Monday. But the Cup Series regular season will start with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2025.
College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in baseball, tennis, college football, men’s college basketball, women’s college basketball, and college baseball!
