With a Number of Pre-Season Recruitments, Is Richard Childress Racing a Team to Watch Out for in 2024?

The 2024 NASCAR Cup season is just around the corner and teams are hard at work preparing for it. Among those teams is the Richard Childress Racing team, who have been quite busy in the off-season. Recently, they recruited former president of the now-defunct Kyle Busch Motorsports, Mike Verlander, who will now assume the role of the chief operating officer at Richard Childress Racing.

Additionally, RCR’s Senior Vice President of marketing and communications, Jennifer White, earned a promotion. Reports place her in the role of RCR’s chief marketing officer. All of this comes on the back of Andy Petree being named the team’s executive vice president, late last year. Since then, the organization has signed on a bunch of sponsors for the Cup Series. Frankly, it is good that the team is making so many changes, because it proves that they are serious about a title challenge.

Will these changes help Richard Childress Racing in the 2024 Cup season?

Last year when Kyle Busch joined the team, he helped guide his side of the garage into the Playoffs. Sadly, the opening round was as far as he got, and a shot at his third title was lost. On the bright side, he did manage to break the record for the most consecutive seasons with a race win. One might say that 2023 was a season of rebuilding for Busch to adjust to his new team. However, no one will cut him any slack in 2024 because he would be expected to fully mesh with the team by now.

Considering that Richard Childress Racing entered into the crew member market, they would have built a strong team. What benefits Kyle Busch even further, is the fact that he has worked with some of the newcomers. This is because some of them were members of his own Truck Series team, so the familiarity could breed some success. Meanwhile, teammate Austin Dillon would love to prove that he can be more than just Richard Childress’ grandson.

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Is Kyle Busch going to be a favorite to win his third Cup title?

Honestly, Busch is not a driver to be underestimated at all. Additionally, he has the experience to help build up the team and turn them into title contenders. However, he will have to compete against a lot of younger drivers who are just as fast, if not faster than him. Furthermore, many of the Ford and Toyota teams are coming out with brand new cars, which are much quicker. Chevrolet, on the other hand, is still sticking with the Camaro for 2024, though production is stopping this year.

In short, he and the other Chevrolet drivers must make the most of the time they have with the Camaro. Hopefully, by then, Chevrolet will find a solution to their problem. Coming back to Richard Childress Racing, the team itself has been in a spot of trouble in 2023. Last year, there was a dramatic falling out between RCR and Sheldon Creed, who will drive elsewhere in 2024. When the news broke, Creed was still in the thick of a championship battle, and the whole affair was a PR nightmare.

In 2024, Richard Childress Racing will be hoping to turn over a new leaf and start afresh. With Busch and Dillon leading the way, along with the recruits, RCR will aim for new heights. This is a team that has boasted six Cup Series titles in the past and will be aiming for number 7.

READ MORE: Why Richard Childress Needed to Make Personnel Changes at RCR After the End of 2023 Season