In the past few years, NASCAR Cup Series was largely dominated by Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, with Team Penske also chiming in once in a while to register their championship-winning potential. But in the last two years, Richard Childress Racing raised their argument that they too are true championship contenders. And now with Kyle Busch on their side, that argument could be a reality.

But just how close is RCR led by Kyle Busch compared to the likes of Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing? Because HMS and JGR are stacked with resources and world-class talent everywhere.

So you’d assume RCR is pretty far behind them, right?

Well, if you are of that opinion, you’d want to listen to Busch because he doesn’t think so.

Kyle Busch makes a huge claim about where RCR currently stands

Sure, RCR isn’t at the level of HMS or JGR yet, but if their star driver who went through pretty nasty splits from both those powerhouses, is to be believed, they’re not only getting to their level, but they’re also quite close.

Speaking in a press conference ahead of the Coca-Cola 600, Busch was asked where he sees RCR stacking up against HMS and JGR.

“I would say the 1.5-mile stuff, I feel like we’re really close. We’re right there. Kansas (Speedway) was a really good look for us. I felt like we had a good top-five, top-three speed. Anything can happen in the end of these races and you can contend for a win,” Busch replied. “Obviously our short-track program is a far miss right now and we’re all trying to figure out what exactly is going on there and why.”

“We can look at all of the sheets and see all that stuff, and try to correlate it as close as we possibly can and copy, but it’s not relating to the race track in our cars at all. So there’s a disconnect there somewhere,” he added.

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Busch points to the two exceptions to NASCAR’s money-driven ladder today

The Kyle Busch Motorsports owner recently touched upon the sad reality of the sport today where a driver’s success depends more on the amount of money they can bring in through sponsorships rather than their actual talent.

“It’s not a success game anymore, it’s a money game,” Busch said.

However, he also pointed to the two personalities in the sport today who he feels have tried to break the mold.

“I think Rick (Hendrick) is probably the only one, with Kyle Larson, but everybody else is sponsorship-drive,” he claimed.

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