Richard Childress Facing Painfully Contrasting Results as Kyle Busch Still Struggling With Pit Issues

It’s no secret that Richard Childress Racing is one of the most iconic NASCAR teams. The height of their glory days came during their time with Dale Earnhardt behind the #3, bringing home 6 Cup championships. With that being said, RCR seems to be on the back foot this season, with the struggles of Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch leaving great room for improvement. However, the same can’t be said about RCR’s Xfinity Series campaign.

That’s to say that Austin Hill and newcomer Jesse Love have been bringing home solid results from the get-go. However, talking of their Cup series misery, Kyle Busch’s pit-stop anguish continues even after significant changes to his pit crew. It looks like now, even the RCR’s Cup Series side can take a page out of their Xfinity book.

Kyle Busch remains on the back foot despite a major crew shuffle

The difference between a fast and a slow pit stop could mean finishing on the podium or in P20. Kyle Busch and the #8 began to show signs of struggle as the crew made their way to the short tracks. As the race at Phoenix approached and Busch’s crew changes were expected to leave a mark, they may have left one RCR didn’t require.

Taking into account the top pit-stop timings over the weekend, the dominance of JGR and Hendrick Motorsports on the chart for median and individual times was clear. However, RCR was nowhere to be found in the top ten individual pit-stop times list, while Austin Dillon’s #3 crew cut the median list with an average pit-stop of 10.14 seconds. Unfortunately, the #8 was on the tail end of all the teams, with an astonishingly low average of 11.39 seconds in comparison.

With this seemingly unexpected result for the #8 crew, RCR has once again announced some changes to the lineup. The hopes are to redeem themselves as short-track racing continues at Bristol. Bob Pockrass shared on X, “Kyle Busch crew shuffle for this week (according to the roster): Josh Sobecki, jackman for Daytona, back on the jack. Michael Russell, front changer who didn’t do the car at Phoenix, back on the front. Shiloh Windsor, front changer last week, doing rear tires this week.”

As track position increases in importance at short tracks, the #8 garage is leaving no stone unturned to maximize their chances. Especially after a lackluster 2023 for Busch’s RCR debut, which was also Austin Dillon’s worst Cup season. That said, the start of this season has been no different, despite Busch bringing home great results at Daytona, followed by a podium at Atlanta. Meanwhile, Dillon’s best finish in the first 4 races was at Vegas, where he finished 16th.

Considering this, maybe the Cup Series side should look within RCR for some inspiration, as the team’s Xfinity campaign is showing no signs of slowing down in comparison.

The RCR’s Cup Series side will want to mimic their Xfinity Series success

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For the 2024 season, RCR retained last year’s Xfinity Series regular-season champion Austin Hill, and welcomed rising talent Jesse Love. The pair immediately kicked off 2024 in excellent form, as both drivers are in the top 5 standings after 4 races. Austin Hill led the charge with back-to-back wins at the superspeedway, with Jesse Love falling short at Atlanta after fuel troubles while leading to finish second.

Still, Jesse Love delivered another solid result this week at Phoenix, finishing runner-up once more. Austin Hill has also finished no lower than fourth in the first four races. In contrast to Busch and Dillon’s 20th place-and-above outings, the Xfinity side is steamrolling ahead. That said, if Austin Dillon doesn’t deliver better results, at least compared to Kyle Busch, his seat could be under threat from one of the Xfinity stars.

After looking at how much the Cup side of RCR is struggling with their setups and pit-stop crews, the clock is ticking for Richard Childress to unite the vision in all his camps.

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