NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch took a huge gamble ahead of the 2023 Cup Series season. He switched from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing after a torrid 2022 season at the former. While most people expected him to struggle, Busch proved them wrong by winning three races in the first half of the campaign. But the struggles have finally started to show and Rowdy’s frustrations with the team are slowly coming out to the forefront. Amidst all the drama and disappointment, the 2x Cup Series champion acknowledged a humbling truth.

His three wins of the season firmly established Busch as a strong contender for the 2023 Cup Series title. But as things stand, he may be knocked out in the round of 12. The #8 Chevy driver currently sits in 12th place on the driver’s championship table, 17 points below the cutline. With two tricky races in Talladega and Charlotte to come, he will need to rely on his experience to get the best possible results. But given how things have panned out of late, his title challenge may very well be nearing its end.

Kyle Busch paints a dim picture as playoff exit looms

Kyle Busch spent 15 years of his career at JGR during which time he won two Cup Series titles and cemented his place as one of the legends of the sport in recent times. Last season was a disaster and internal scuffles forced him to quit the team but there is no denying that Busch hit his peak under the tutelage of Joe Gibbs.

Richard Childress and Busch have had a troublesome past. The two came to blows in 2011 after an on-track incident, as a result of which Childress was fined a whopping $150,000 and put on probation for the rest of the year. The two have obviously mended fences, but Rowdy’s patience is running thin with his nemesis-turned-boss’ team.

The last time Kyle Busch finished a race in the top 5 was in Richmond back in July. Since that day, he has struggled to finish consistently even in the top 10. As the season went on, Rowdy’s frustrations became clearer than ever. He even took to social media to express his dissatisfaction and helplessness with RCR.

Busch’s qualifying effort in Talladega was an absolute disaster and he will start the race on Sunday from 25th place. After the session, Busch was asked what he needed to do to make things better and that is when he acknowledged that things during his time at JGR had gone much smoother.

“In 2017, 2018, whatever when we were super-fast all the time – I always think back to the golden days… you could drive from the back of the field to the front of the field. You could make something happen and I still feel like I can do that – I can drive from the back of the field to the front of the field,” Rowdy said.

“But in reality, with this car, equipment, talent and everything being so equal…SMT data, everybody seeing it and being so equal – it’s tougher than ever to pass the guy in front of you. So I guess that’s kind of been a bit of my demise, which is I don’t feel like I can do as much as I want to be able to do,” the veteran racer added.

Kyle Busch does have a point. While all this has been kicking off at RCR, JGR has been marching towards the Cup Series title with Denny Hamlin. The 42-year-old is having the time of his life in 2023 and he has established himself as one of the strongest contenders for the title.

JGR’s title favorite apprehensive ahead of Talladega test

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Hamlin will start the Talladega race from 12th position and while that is not near the front of the field, that #11 car has enough pace to clear everyone in front within the first stage. But the veteran racer has his apprehensions going into the event at the iconic superspeedway.

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The  42-year-old has won races at the track before but in the regular-season race at the track earlier this year, he finished in 17th place after starting the race from pole position. So Denny is not going to be taking any chances. What he did do is let his superstitious side seep through on a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast.

“We’re going to Talladega now. It’s going to be, I don’t know. I thought Daytona would be a s**t show; it didn’t really turn out to be as much. I guess I’ll call this week another s**t show,” he said.

Hamlin is second on the river’s championship table but his place in the round of 8 is not yet confirmed. But given his form, it just feels like a formality unless something catastrophic unfolds on Sunday. Where do you think Hamlin will finish at Talladega?

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