Kyle Busch Heads Home Early From Iowa After Another Debacle Leaves a Dent on His Playoff Hopes

Kyle Busch’s torrid run through the 2024 season continues at Iowa Speedway. The No. 8 RCR car had a mechanical failure on Lap 270 of the race, which forced the driver to spread out from the group of cars he was racing against after the restart.

According to the team radio, Kyle Busch thought he had issues with the left rear differentiator. “The diff is broke.” Busch did manage to bring his No. 8 Chevy safely down the pit road, only to see his power steering quit on him. Double whammy for Busch and the entire #8 RCR team, as they just can’t seem to catch any good luck this season.

Kyle Busch unable to catch a good break this season

As soon as multiple issues came to light, all Rowdy could do was bring his car back to the garage and end the race. With 10 races to go until the end of the regular season, this DNF is indeed a big blow to his hopes of making it into the playoffs. While there were instances where Busch could’ve done with a better race car or prep, recent luck certainly hasn’t favored the 2-time champion.

Derek Kneeland, the spotter for the No. 8 team, rightly summed up the feeling after yet another unfortunate end to the race at Iowa. “It could rain 100 dollar bills and we would get a penny. Unreal the luck this year we are having.” It is hard to predict the trajectory of where Kyle Busch will finish at the end of the regular season. He only has nine more attempts to somehow stage a miraculous comeback to make the playoffs.

This was the fifth race in a row for the #8 team that they have gone without a top-10 finish. P8 at Darlington was the last time Busch managed to get in decent points, but ever since then, it has been a downhill ride. He was already right on the bubble in the points standings, placed 15th before today’s race, and it won’t be a surprise to see him drop outside the safe zone.

It has been well documented that Kyle Busch hasn’t gelled well with the Next Gen car. And after his disappointments today, he once again put the race car under the scanner.

The reason behind the #8 car’s mechanical failure

Ever since NASCAR decided to bring their idea of parity racing to reality, the former JGR driver just hasn’t been able to churn out his regular dominant performances. In his very first year in 2022, he only bagged a single win, and although he grabbed three wins in his first season with RCR, he still wasn’t contending for a championship win.

The 2024 season has turned out to be a complete nightmare, with no wins and playoff qualifications hanging by the thread. A DNF was the last thing Busch and his team needed today. However, trying to cover up the team’s shortcomings, the driver once again put the Next Gen car in the spotlight. “I don’t know what happened, but Next Gen parts and pieces broke. So something in the left rear suspension—I don’t know if it was a toe link or whatever.” He said this in an interview after his exit from the race.

Rowdy also added that it was not just one but multiple issues that forced him to park his car in the garage. “Came into fix it roll it back out, blew the power steering wheel. Belt just broke, so I have no idea … Having a pretty decent day, I mean, we had a top ten run going, and we had an opportunity there to score some points, but not to be.”

Well, truth be told, it is about time the Richard Childress Racing team got their act right. Because aiming for top-10 finishes certainly won’t get them into the knockout rounds.