Kevin Harvick Is Empathic for Richard Childress’ Grandson as RCR Fails to Capitalize on Top-Tier Pit Crew

Richard Childress Racing’s pit crews seem to be suffering quite a bit recently. Since the beginning of the new season, their errors have cost Kyle Busch big time. Even at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Busch faced penalties due to their amateur mishaps. Similar problems have followed the grandson of Richard Childress, Austin Dillon. Although Austin got off to a good start in some races, he was unable to maintain his rhythm throughout the race and never finished in the top fifteen. And the slow response of the RCR pit members seems to have hampered his circuit run.

Retired NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick believes this trend of poor pit performance was also visible in RCR’s operations at Bristol, again significantly impacting Austin Dillon’s track performance.

Pit crew issues at RCR hamper their driver performance

Next Gen racing has elevated the pit crew’s importance to new heights. To maximize every valuable second on the track, it is essential to invest in top-tier pit staff. But hardly every team can say that they have an efficient crew. While some companies spend extensively on top-tier staff, others have to figure out how to deal with what they have. The problem is that RCR seems to have missed the mark, as their pit squad is not helping their drivers perform as well as they should. Similar to Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon is facing constant challenges with wrecks and sluggish pit stops.

In a recent episode of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour,” Kevin Harvick talked about the problems that keep happening in RCR’s pit lanes. The tire wear difficulties at Bristol only made things worse for the team, resulting in Austin Dillon finishing 24th. It wasn’t easy for Busch either; he spun out on every stage and ended up 25th. Voicing his concern for Dillon, Kevin Harvick said, “I feel so bad for Austin. They just, they’re having trouble at the beginning of these races, wrong place, wrong time and it’s just a, it’s been a rough start for them.”

Kevin Harvick also pointed out that the top three teams are known for having the top 10 most efficient pit crews. His indication was clear that without extraordinary pit performance, no team can excel, no matter how fast the drivers are on the track.

Team RCR shuffled their crew members before the Atlanta and Phoenix races with the hope of a better outcome. Despite these adjustments, their pit performance remained the same. Kyle Busch was so desperate that he also brought back his Daytona 500’s Jackman. Still, in the last three Cup Series races, he failed miserably to finish in the top ten.

Team RCR tried different pit crew combinations

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Team RCR has been trying out changes in its pit personnel almost every week so that Kyle Busch can have better stops on the pit road. To build up a competitive advantage in races, Busch is well aware that it is essential to seize chances. As soon as the Daytona 500 was over, Busch had already begun his pit crew adjustments.

At first, they changed their jackman between Daytona and Atlanta, but it didn’t make a difference. Then Richard Childress Racing made some more changes before the Phoenix raceway. Again, at Bristol Motor Speedway, they put Shiloh Windsor in charge of changing the tires on the back of the cars instead of the front, and they brought back Michael Russell as the front tire changer. The goal in making these adjustments was to ensure that Busch always had the best pit crew.

Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon did not have any standout attempts at the end of the recent Bristol race. Austin is having the same trouble in the Cup series as he did last year. It seems they still have a long way to go before their improving efforts bear fruit.

Read More: Richard Childress Facing Painfully Contrasting Results as Kyle Busch Still Struggling With Pit Issues