Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is on the ropes. Down for the count. Struggling to get back up. The once formidable organization is a shell of its former self, when it regularly competed for championships in the fearsome black No.3 driven by Dale Earnhardt.
The car is gone now and so is it’s driver and so, it seems, is whatever it was that enabled this team to stay on top for so long. For one thing, RCR clearly has struggled to adapt to the modernized NextGen version racer, which came on line in 2022.
Sure, RCR has won a few races since then and made the playoffs, but that’s more a function of the NASCAR point system, which rewards finishing over competing and lets you in the playoffs with a single win no matter how far down the standings you are.
This year though, RCR has been exposed. in 2023, RCR signed Kyle Busch to team with Austin Dillon as the organization’s lead driver. Busch’s talent has never been in doubt.
With Joe Gibbs Racing, a NASCAR powerhouse, he won at least one race every year from 2005 through 2022. And he made a seemingly seamless transition to RCR in 2023, winning three times for what had become a second-tier team.
With some changes in the shop and some shifting roles in upper management, it was thought that Busch might lead RCR out of the doldrums. And then in 2024, it all fell apart again. For the first time in his career, Busch didn’t win a single race.
Dillon did, shoving both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin out of the way on the last lap to triumph at Richmond, but his moves were so egregious NASCAR banned him from the playoffs.
And RCR’s problems have continued this year. Heading into Sunday’s Craker Barrel 400 at Nashville, Busch has gone 70 straight races without a win and Dillon hasn’t won either. The team has only one top five, that by Busch in the season’s first race in Austin, Tx.
But again, because NASCAR rewards finishing races more than competing in them, Busch, 19th in the standings, still has a shot at the playoffs with 266 points. That’s just 14 behind Ryan Preece who is 16th, the cutoff right now.
Busch, though will likely have to win to get in, and that may be a real chore as RCR keeps blundering through race after race with messed up pit stops, messed up strategy and engine and car pieces that just don’t hold up.
“I feel like a broken record saying another difficult night for our No. 8 Chevrolet team,” Busch told NBC after a 15th place finish at Charlotte. “The weekend started with a steering issue.
“We got the pump changed and were able to make a qualifying lap but had to change the rack (the component that connects the steering wheel to the steering gear allowing for precise steering movements) and go to the rear for the start of the race,” Busch said.
“We were tight (the front of the car not wanting to turn) in dirty air (air swirling off the cars in front of him),” Busch continued. “Crew chief Randall Burnett made some changes and got it running better when I heard a loud pop. Something broke and we’re still no sure what it was.
“From that point on we were just out of it,” Busch said. “We tried making a strategy call late in the race, but we had an issue on pit road so we weren’t really able to capitalize on that,” he added.
Busch has just signed a contract extension that keeps him with RCR in 2026 and at 40, he’s near the end of this career. Whether or not RCR can put him in a competitive car for the duration is open to question, but in reality, given his age and the fact that there don’t seem to be any better openings, he’s stuck.
And while RCR seems to be in almost constant disarray, one thing is certain. RCR is not what they were. Even Dale Earnhardt would have trouble winning in these cars.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Nashville: 1-Kyle Larson, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-William Byron. Last year’s winner at Nashville: Joey Logano. Top five at Nashville last year: 1-Logano, 2-Zane Smith, 3-Tyler Reddick, 4-Ryan Preece, 5-Chris Buescher.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport picks: 1-Ryan Blaney, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-Kyle Larson. Charlotte winner: Ross Chastain. OGS season record: 5-5.
Top 10 in OGS competition index after 10 races: 1-Larson 291 points, 2-Bell 228, 3-Denny Hamlin 223, 4-William Byron 204, 5-Blaney 107, 6-Chastain 102, 7-Chase Briscoe 90, 8-Josh Berry 83, 9-Bubba Wallace 73, 10-Logano 73.
Top 10 on intermediate tracks (similar to Nashville) in OGS competition index: 1-Larson 176, 2-Byron 153, 3-Chastain 102, 4-Blaney 92, 5-Bell 71, 6-Briscoe 70, 7-Hamlin 68, 8-Berry 59, 9-Logano 58, Alex Bowman 58.
INDY 500
OGS Indy 500 picks: 1-Alex Polou, 2-Scott Dixon, 3-Pato O’Ward. Indy 500 winner: Polou.