“Not as Good as Dale Earnhardt but..”: NASCAR Legend Rubbishes Rumors of Infighting in RCR Despite Kyle Busch’s Sensitive Comments

It’s only fair to say that Kyle Busch isn’t the driver he was four years ago. Especially in the Next Gen era, the driver has become a shadow of his former self. To add to his misery, his time at Richard Childress Racing has been nothing less than a fall from grace. This has now led to Rowdy coming out in public and fueling the fire about his future with the team.

“I would say anything’s possible, always. Certainly, if I was welcomed I would go back. If Hendrick welcomed me I would go back,” Busch said to Bob Pockrass when asked about a potential return to his former teams. But in turn, these comments would also disrupt the atmosphere at the RCR camp.

It is unclear if this was a message to the hierarchy at RCR or frustration at being unable to compete for the wins. But, these comments by Kyle Busch would likely ruffle some feathers on his team and potentially derail their entire season. However, former RCR driver, Jeff Burton, feels that it was just an outburst of emotion by Rowdy in demanding more from his No. 8 team. Not only that, Burton even went on to predict positive outcomes for the driver despite the mediocre showings so far this season.

Kyle Busch will have to ‘light a fire’ for desired results, per Jeff Burton

Busch has been open about his struggles with the Next Gen racecar and the lack of practice sessions. Thus, by doing that, he has put himself in the firing line. Just two top 5 results in 17 races is not what is expected from a 2-time Cup Series champion. Although Kyle Busch has openly aired his struggles with the racecar, Burton feels he will have to take the initiative and demand more from his team.

“I think you gotta look at it in full context at what he is saying. And recognize that he’s included himself in the package of needing to be better. So if you get a driver that says I struggled with this, but my team’s got to step up too. I’m okay with it, and I don’t have a problem with it. Did it pi** some people off, probably? Sometimes you gotta pi** people off, sometimes you have to light the fire,” Burton said on the NASCAR NBC podcast.

Burton’s statements are based on his personal experience running with RCR when he was in a similar situation as Rowdy. Although Busch’s comments may not go down well with his RCR buddies, there’s still light at the end of the tunnel, according to Burton. “Is Kyle Busch capable of making the playoffs? I would say he is. So if you’re at RCR, maybe he’s not as good as Dale Earnhardt, but he’s still damn good … Don’t turn your attention to how your feelings hurt; that’s hard to do. But that’s the way I see it,” he added.

Moreover, the former RCR driver further sent out a message to the RCR camp to get their act together and elevate the team’s performance if they hope to achieve different results.

Jeff Burton isn’t interested in joining the long line of Kyle Busch critics

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The 39-year-old RCR star hasn’t been a fan favorite throughout his racing career. But, that hasn’t kept him away from scripting history. He still has the most wins (66) in the Craftsman Truck Series, is a 2X Cup Series Championship, and has many other achievements to his name. But things haven’t been running smoothly for him in recent years. However, Burton credited Busch for acknowledging his shortcomings in recent years in the media. And he went on to ask the RCR team to rally behind their star driver.

“I give him credit for his comments to the media, which is talking to the fans about the things that he has to do better. The things that he has struggled with. So I would not want to get on him about when he makes the comment that somebody on the team might get their feelings hurt; get over it. Because he’s been willing to say he needs to be better too,” Burton went on to add.

All hope isn’t yet lost for Kyle Busch and RCR. With eight races still in the regular season, all they need is one big result to get their season back on track.