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Debate

Is Richard Childress's hands-on approach with Kyle Busch the key to reclaiming NASCAR glory?

To say Kyle Busch has been having a rotten season would be an understatement. Race after race, he has been facing challenges, almost like a black cat has crossed his path. Whether it’s mechanical issues, someone crashing into him or him crashing — nothing seems to be going in the RCR driver’s way.

Having said that, he started on a strong foot at Atlanta this season picking up a third-place finish. But after the Ricky Stenhouse Jr. incident, things have gone awry. Meanwhile, team owner Richard Childress has grown tired of the same story, repeating itself day in and day out. He needs change, and he and Busch are currently in the works to make that change.

Kyle Busch says they have to catch up with Hendrick!

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There were rumors and debates online of whether a curse of sorts might have been unleashed on Kyle Busch after what went down with Stenhouse Jr. While Stenhouse Jr was handed a hefty fine, the most NASCAR has ever handed, Busch, who too landed punches, didn’t face similar repercussions. Karma or not, one thing is clear: lady luck is not on Busch’s side.

At Gateway, we saw Larson get loose and crash into Busch, sending him home. Then in Sonoma, he got spun out by Ross Chastain on the last lap. At Iowa, he suffered a mechanical issue, in New Hampshire he faced the worst fate with multiple crashes, and last week at Nashville, he had a great chance to redeem himself but he got caught in a wreck. As such, Childress is getting fed up with consistently falling behind their long-time rival, Hendrick Motorsports. The pressure is building to close the gap and get back in the game and hence Busch and Childress had detailed discussions about the plan next.

Busch said that since then, everything from the body shop to the chassis shop, assembly, and all the other areas have been paid attention to. Moreover, they also made a big change and announced the sudden retirement of Andy Petree last week. This highlights that maybe they have a deeper internal issue going on. And given that Busch has mentioned plenty of changes are being implanted by Richard Childress, Petree’s departure surely hints at a deeper performance issue within the team. Busch is no newbie to the game. He understands that there is no reason he should be suffering this fate, given that there are other Chevys that are winning races week in and out. Hendricks, their rival, has been on top of their game.

Kyle Busch said to Fronstretch,And making sure that we’re doing all the best we can and understanding the information that we have given to us the best we can. As there’s other Chevy teams that are being able to do a better job than what we are with all of that. So if we were the best of the Chevy teams and we were struggling and not winning, then there would be a different problem across the board. But Hendricks seems to be doing just fine, so we’ve gotta catch up to at least that.”

USA Today via Reuters

What’s your perspective on:

Is Richard Childress's hands-on approach with Kyle Busch the key to reclaiming NASCAR glory?

Have an interesting take?

Well, even though playoffs are at the front door, it’s better late than never to make changes. Keeping Hendricks as a benchmark is smart because it gives them a clear vision of maybe identifying which area they are lacking. 

Whether it’s the car or, perhaps, Kyle Busch losing his edge with age, Busch remains cautious about his vehicle and the team’s overall performance. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick has warned people on the grid to be wary of Busch!

Kevin Harvick warns drivers to steer clear of Kyle Busch

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Kyle Busch is the same person who swept weekends- he has a record of sweeping weekends! But now he hasn’t even made it to the playoffs, not a race won yet. He is now 296 points behind Kyle Larson, and given that not many races are left for the playoffs to start, his chances of making it look dimmer every moment.

Kevin Harvick recently discussed Busch’s misfortunes in his podcast and he actually labeled Busch to be one of the unluckiest guys on the track. Not that, he even warned other drivers to steer clear of him to avoid catching on to that terrible luck.  Harvick said in the Happy Hour podcast, “He is on the worst bad luck cycle of anyone on the circuit right now. It is bad. Don’t go around Kyle Busch right now, because if you want bad luck, don’t get around that guy because he is plagued with bad luck.”

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Harvick even highlighted the fact that in Nashville, Busch was about to win the race. He had everything right, but he still smashed into the fence. Hence, Harvick said there is nothing anyone can do at this point. Because it’s no one’s fault! He said, “I don’t even know how you fix it at this point because they didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t do anything wrong in the game.”

Something seems to be up and the team making changes and taking bold steps might just ensure they get back to the game. Busch was making strides last year and at this point had three race wins, so such a drop in performance from a veteran is not normal. Hendricks with the same vehicle has Kyle Larson as leader, so it’s not that the manufacturer seems to have an issue. Do you think it’s just poor luck this season or Busch is not able to keep up? Let us know your thoughts!