Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer debate what’s plaguing Kyle Busch, RCR during chaotic Texas race

Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer debated on the issues with Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. During the FS1 broadcast, the two former NASCAR stars were asked if Busch could carry a Gen 7 car as he had done previously.

“The reason [Busch] won so many of those is he crew chiefed from the car,” Bowyer said about Busch winning so many Xfinity and Truck Series races. “That guy knew exactly what setup he was looking for and how that car was supposed to feel and could walk them right to victory lane through the seat of his pants. These cars, all the engineering involved in them, not so much.”

“I think the good driver still can carry a good car to a certain point,” Harvick said. “It’s about the feedback, it’s about the direction, it’s about finding the next thing that moves the needle forward. The driver has such a big part in that role of being able to say, ‘Okay, this is good, this is bad, let’s go here, let’s go there,’ and helping with the crew chief and engineer guide that.”

Busch was involved in a wreck late in the Texas race but was able to return to action. It was a tough break as he was running up front with 39 laps remaining.

 “They are trying. Everybody’s digging,” Bowyer said about Busch and RCR. “They’re getting close. You don’t run up front like that… They’ll have their day.”

Looking at Kyle Busch’s 2025 season

“They had the speed,” Harvick added. “They had the speed today, made the pit stop, put themselves in position.”

Kyle Busch earned a P20 finish on Sunday. Through 11 races this year, the 40-year-old has yet to win a race and has recorded three top-10 finishes. Busch last won a race in June 2023 when he placed first in the Enjoy Illinois 300.

In March, Busch spoke to Harvick about his 2025 season. “Much better than we were last year,” Busch said. “I would give big Kudos to everyone at RCR, ECR Engines, everyone that’s been working really, really hard over the offseason and the new people that have kind of come in to help us out with car builds at the shop to different steups that we’ve run at the racetracks to the strategies and the software that we have behind the scenes with the computers and the simulation.”