At this point, the entire NASCAR fraternity is perhaps waiting for Kyle Busch to break his winless streak. Years have passed, and the team’s strategy has changed, but Busch still remains a driver without a win in two straight seasons. While there have been issues with his team’s car, Denny Hamlin thinks otherwise, as the NASCAR veteran threw Busch under the bus for having failed to use RCR’s pace and take home a win.

Hamlin points at Busch over the latter’s failure

In the recent Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin shed light on the ongoing situation of Kyle Busch and how, despite having a formidable car, the veteran failed to deliver. Even though there have been sparks of pace, as seen during the Daytona 500 qualifying in February, the delivery hasn’t been the same.

“I mean, it is noteworthy, like last year, or I’m sorry, last week, that Austin Dillon was not as bad as Kyle Busch, right?” Hamlin said. “It’s not just I think, I think we, we really got to, put everything in perspective and yes, the organization is probably not where they want it to be, but if one of them is running last and the other one’s running 16th.”

Following this, Hamlin emphasized how Richard Childress Racing has been a decent team this year, showing impressive pace. As a result, he was reluctant to put RCR in the crosshairs for Busch’s failure to win races. Here’s what he further added:

“Like that’s if Kyle is great, like we all believe he is, then he should be 8th. But he wasn’t right. So I think he’s searching right now. I think he’s in just my opinion, just trying to figure something out, and just it’s not, I don’t know. I can’t put it all on RCR, like it’s just they’re not race-winning teams right now. They don’t have that pace, but they don’t have 30th-place pace. That’s something that the driver team, the individual team has a role in.”

Notably, questions have always been on Kyle Busch over his inability to finish on top, and statistics say the same. In 2026, Busch claimed the pole at Duel 1 at Daytona, but he finished the race in 18th place.

He continued to show pace at the very next qualifying and took pole, but once again finished in 15th place. After a bunch of average qualifying and finishes, Busch qualified in eighth place, but when it came to delivering on Sunday, he stumbled once again.

In the last two years, during which he has been winless, Busch claimed a pole once and qualified within the top 10 several times. But out of the 72 races, he took home only eight top fives and 20 top 10s. But Kyle Busch, who is going through a 98-race winless streak after the Darlington race, is not the only culprit, as two leading NASCAR analysts revealed.

NASCAR insiders rip apart RCR amid torrid run

Leading NASCAR journalists Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi highlighted the lackluster performances from Richard Childress Racing drivers Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon. Pointing them out, Gluck mentioned how RCR has had the worst start to a season since 1982.

“The last time RCR ended the first six Cup races in a season without a single top 10 finish, it was a single-car team in 1982,” Gluck said in the Teardown podcast.

Following this, Bianchi put the blame entirely on Richard Childress Racing and its owner, Richard Childress. He said:

“Organizationally, they are in a slump right now. And that is clear as day.”

Gluck and Bianchi’s concerns come amid Busch and Dillon’s failure to post formidable results on the board. Busch is currently in 23rd place in the Drivers’ Standings with 106 points.

His teammate, Dillon, is further down in 26th place with 93 points. The best finish by an RCR driver this season was 12th by both Busch (at COTA) and Dillon (at Las Vegas).