Nothing seems to be going right for Kyle Busch this season. It is safe to say that the Richard Childress Racing driver has suffered a forgettable 2024 campaign so far. Last Sunday, Busch registered his fifth DNF of the season in the HighPoint.Com 400. While his poor run continued, both Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick voiced their concern for the two-time Cup Series champion.

Busch is currently riding a 42-race winless run, a streak he’s never faced in his career. It is a shame given his abilities behind the wheel, as plenty seems to be wrong at Richard Childress Racing. With just five races remaining in the regular season, it looks highly unlikely for Busch to cement a place in the final 16. However, it must be painful for Rowdy to hear what Harvick had to say about his current form.

Kevin Harvick doesn’t mince his words as he deep dives into Kyle Busch’s poor Cup Series run

Currently, Kyle Busch stands 19th in the playoff rankings, 98 points behind the cutoff line. With five races in hand, only a win can help his cause. While it is not impossible, it is certainly a massive challenge given the issues Busch and his team have faced this season. A perfect example of their struggles is what happened at Pocono Raceway last weekend.

Firstly, during the practice session on Sunday, the #8 team faced steering issues. Unfortunately, it turned disastrous moments before the race as the car started leaking oil on the pit road. While it forced Busch’s team to repair the issue in the garage, it saw him start the race from the rear of the field. With Rowdy struggling to find speed once again during the race, the matter got worse when Corey LaJoie hooked him into Turn 1 on the Lap 120 restart.

With another DNF to his name, Busch’s woes don’t seem to end. In the latest episode of his podcast “Actions Detrimental,”  Denny Hamlin spoke in length about his former teammate’s current scenario. Interestingly, in the process, he boldly claimed that Busch would not be able to win a race legitimately. While it is a painful thought to digest, Kevin Harvick added more salt to Rowdy’s wounds.

On his show “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hours,” Harvick explained Busch’s struggles. He said, “He’s [Busch] just at this point where the cars aren’t fast enough, stuff’s falling off the cars, they [RCR] have issue after issue. When it goes good, he gets in somebody else’s mess. There is nothing that is going right for Kyle Busch and most of the time recently, they haven’t had the speed to even do what they need to do to make up for that.”

Kevin Harvick then highlighted that even Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin have had their struggles, but there’s a major difference when compared to Busch’s scenario. He said, “Some of these other cars that are having issues, they have the speed, and that keeps the confidence level high.” While Harvick praised Rowdy for his maturity, he couldn’t see a positive outcome for him anytime soon.

Harvick said, “Kyle still has the maturity level at this particular point to not get himself buried deeper after the race with his interviews, but man, what a terrible position. I don’t see a win anywhere in sight for the #8.” Indeed, it is disheartening to see Busch struggle the way he has. While Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin have discarded Rowdy’s chances of playoff qualification, the former left a glimmer of hope for the Busch fans in an interesting verdict.

Kevin Harvick remains hopeful of a dramatic end to the playoff scenario following the Pocono result

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After three wins in his debut season with RCR, hardly anyone expected a winless drought for Kyle Busch in 2024. Having said that, things just haven’t clicked for the #8 team, with timely issues being the party popper. While on-track issues have been frequent, the most evident struggle has come with the lack of speed. At times, Busch has severely lacked pace, which comes as a massive surprise after 21 races into the season.

That said, discarding a Rowdy win in the remaining five races of the regular season isn’t advisable. As Kevin Harvick said in the same episode, “I feel like he’s [Busch] got a couple of chances. Daytona, is obviously going to be his best chance, and I still believe that Daytona is going to put that 16th place car currently in a bad position, which is Ross Chastain. I think Daytona can put those cars in a terrible — it’s going to be somebody outside of the Top 16.”

It is true that the magic of Daytona could do wonders. Let’s not forget, Joey Logano went on to win at Nashville despite being in the 17th position. The mixture of chaos and luck seems to work in NASCAR more frequently than earlier, so there’s always a chance. In fact, Harvick strongly feels that a driver outside the top 16 might just end up qualifying for the playoffs.

He said, “I just have this feeling that it’s going to be somebody outside of the Top 16, and it’s just going to be this wild, 16th place points position, and this week, it couldn’t have gone worse for Ty Gibbs. It couldn’t have gone worse for Ross Chastain. Bubba Wallace actually made up points to the 16th spot, but I just look at, I look at Daytona and I just think to myself, ‘Man, there is going to be some risk taking that happens there,’ and there’s going to be somebody outside of the Top 16 that wins.”

Without a doubt, Kevin Harvick has a valid point there. While Kyle Busch needs plenty of luck and zero technical issues for that to happen, it is certainly possible. Now, it remains to be seen how he reacts after the Pocono misery and turns up in the remaining five races of the regular season. Can Rowdy make it to the playoffs this campaign? While it looks unlikely, only time can answer this question.