'Definitely not due to lack of effort' Busch says of continued struggles
03/29/2025 06:28 PM
Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing would have received a positive grade for the first month of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
"We had some good stuff going," Busch said Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway.
The good stuff was Busch and the No. 8 Chevrolet scoring three consecutive top-10 finishes on three different styles of racetrack. He finished seventh at Atlanta Motor Speedway, fifth at Circuit of The Americas and eighth at Phoenix Raceway. Included in that span was leading 42 laps on the Texas road course and being in contention to win in the closing laps before being out-dueled by Christopher Bell.
But then there was a speeding penalty and the right rear wheel that came off his car in Las Vegas. Busch qualified fourth and showed top 10 speed. He finished 33rd and two crew members were suspended because of the detached wheel.
A week ago, Busch finished 21st at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The team had an uninspiring afternoon after getting the setup wrong.
Busch dropped from seventh to 17th in the championship standings after the Las Vegas event. He maintained that position after the tough day in Homestead.
Given all that, Busch can admit the group has lost some momentum as the series shifts to the first true short track of the season at Martinsville. Saturday, Busch was 12th fastest in practice and qualified 12th.
"Vegas, we were fast," Busch said. "I felt like we were legit a top-four car let the race play out. Then, obviously, Homestead was a complete miss. It looked identical to last year. You could replay the 2024 and 2025 Homestead and see the Hendrick cars all having some pretty good speed, the Trackhouse and RCR cars running in the back. We're literally passing each other for 30th on the racetrack. That's not good.
"There's something to be said for that and I'm not exactly sure what. But now we're here at Martinsville with a completely different package, so hopefully this will go better."
The track brings a different package, going from an intermediate to a short track, but RCR is also shaking up the setups between the Childress teammates. Busch and Austin Dillon are not running the same package for the Cook Out 400 as Dillon's team went with something familiar and comfortable to their driver, while Busch's team went in a completely new direction in hopes of finding something that works for them.
Busch has finished no better than 16th at Martinsville Speedway in four starts with Childress.
The team goes into Sunday looking for its first win since June 4, 2023. Not only did the 2024 season go without a win, but Busch finished 20th in the standings with an average finish of 18.3 with the fewest laps he's ever led in his full-time Cup Series career.
"It's definitely not due to lack of effort, that's for sure," Busch said. "Everybody works very hard; I know the long hours and everything that everybody does. The only thing I can really say is, fundamentally, it's just work smarter, not harder. I think part of it has been better.
"One week at Homestead … we can't focus ."
