NASCAR insider names Cup Series team that would 'like to have' Kyle Busch

In case you have forgotten, which is easy to do lately, Kyle Busch is still racing for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Busch has been a non-factor for weeks, if not months at this point. With an extension through 2026, it makes you wonder what the two-time champion is going to do.

Clearly, things at RCR started off hot and have since cooled off. While other teams made strides and are winning races with consistency, Kyle Busch is struggling to find the Top 20 lately.

Since his P10 finish at Sonoma, Busch has only one more Top 10 finish in the last 11 races, P8 at Darlington. His best finish outside of that, P11 at Dover.

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports was on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour this week. The two talked about RCR and Kyle Busch. What does the future have in store for the team and driver?

“I think Kyle Busch wins again, I just don’t know whether it’s at RCR or not,” Pockrass said. “Look, I think Spire would like to have him and see what they can do with him. You know, sounds like he’s, you know, as they’ve all said, staying for next year. But you know he can’t be happy. And if they continue to run the way they’ve been, he’ll want to leave. I think that’s the challenge now, getting a new crew chief.

“Do you bring somebody in who is probably wondering, ‘Gosh, am I coming in to crew chief Kyle Busch? And is that just going to be one year? Or am I being brought in to crew chief Kyle Busch for a year and then maybe either Austin Hill, Jesse Love, or somebody else?'”

Kyle Busch is racing without direction

Right now, it feels like Kyle Busch is just going out there and fighting his cars. There is no comfort and no feel and no speed. Hell, Austin Dillon has won two races since Busch won his last race. Whatever he needs out of these cars to succeed, RCR isn’t able to give him right now.

There really isn’t an answer in sight. After last season, it was hard to imagine this team getting any worse. Yet, they seem to have found a way to get even slower this year. It just feels like a rudderless ship in the ocean, getting thrown this way and that.

How much longer can Kyle Busch afford to stay at RCR? In my mind, the move to Spire makes the most sense, and I was shocked to see there wasn’t, or hasn’t been yet, a contract buyout. With how Justin Haley has performed compared to Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar, why not give that seat to Busch?