What’s Happening?

Kyle Busch is having one of the worst seasons of his career, and fans began speculating whether or not Busch could be looking to leave Richard Childress Racing at some point. Busch further fueled speculation when he commented on a potential return to Joe Gibbs Racing by saying, “Anything’s possible,” before reaffirming that he plans on sticking with RCR at least through the years. Busch’s crew chief Randall Burnett recently chimed in, and the future beyond 2025 for Busch remains uncertain.

• Kyle Busch and Randall Burnett are in their second season working together. The two won three of the first 15 races in 2023, but have hit a wall since.
• While Burnett appears confident that Busch will stay with RCR in the short term, the long term is unclear. Does he expect Busch to stay or leave the race team after the current contract is up?
• Fans are rampantly speculating about Busch’s future. Whereas 2024 and 2025 seem pretty well set, it’s the beyond that fans are looking towards.

What Busch’s Crew Chief Had to Say

Busch’s comments at Iowa stirred the pot quite a bit. While he said he expects to be back at RCR in 2025 and that his current contract has “No-talk clauses,” he didn’t rule out returning to former race teams at some point.

I would say anything’s possible always. If I was welcomed [at JGR], I would go back. If Hendrick welcomed me back, I would go back. But, right now, I am at RCR with my group of guys, and the deal that I have right now in place. So, we’re trying to work and build this program and make RCR great again.

Kyle Busch

These comments drew the ire of former RCR driver Kevin Harvick. He called the comments “A Kick in the teeth to the guys and gals that are working on your car.”

In the wake of all of this, Daniel Trotta on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio asked crew chief Randall Burnett about where Busch’s commitment to the team. This is how Burnett responded.

I absolutely do [feel like Kyle Busch is committed]. I feel like he’s a big part of this and a big part of the future of RCR, obviously. We spend a lot of time togehter. We talk about a lot of things. He’s very involved with the team and the guys here at the shop. He rode back to the airport with us after our struggles at Iowa, and we all sat in there, myself, engineers, car chief, and him and we all talked about it on the way to the airport after the other night about how we’re going to do better. What we need to do better, and things we have to work on. He’s very involved in it, and we take a lot away from what he says. He’s obviously one of the best for a reason, and we take a lot of that and put it into use obviously. I think we’re going to be in good shape with him for the next couple of years at RCR, and go forward from there.

Randall Burnett

Focusing on Burnett’s last statement, he says Busch will be there “for the next couple of years,” which is through 2025. However, Burnett did not comment beyond 2025, questioning whether Busch will be back after that.

This doesn’t confirm that Busch is leaving. However, it opens up the conversation about his plans beyond 2025. It’s impossible to speculate too heavily that far ahead, but it’s a story to watch.

However, Burnett seems to counter any speculation that Busch might have his mind elsewhere. Busch seems very involved with the race team and is committed to making it as good as possible.

Still, despite all the work, Burnett and Busch have struggled to achieve the consistent results they hope for. It seems quite possible that the struggles could be bad enough for Busch to look elsewhere beyond 2025. However, a lot can change between now and then.

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