Can RCR retain Kyle Busch beyond 2026? That is a big storyline, given that Busch is in his contract year. Either it’s another one-year extension, or Busch looks for a new home if he finds a good team. But for a team like RCR, which has been banking on Rowdy’s star power, it could find itself on the bitter end of this deal. And then comes the big question: Who replaces Busch in the No. 8 car?

Trading Kyle Busch to make room for new talent and resources at RCR sounds like a good plan. However, Dale Jr. feels that won’t resolve the core issue. “You’re not firing Kyle Busch. You’re just not. So, I don’t know what they’re paying Kyle, but they could put Jesse Love in the car. Jesse would probably take a much smaller paycheck, right? That would be something the team would look at and say, okay, that’s a positive in the column. But Jesse Love, with all due respect…He will battle for Cup championships. But is he Kyle Busch today? I don’t think so.”

Not everyone is sold on the idea that Busch will be able to pull through. Kevin Harvick recently shared his take on Rowdy’s winless run. “Kyle Busch isn’t going to win right now, you know, right? Because the cars are not running well. You know, two, three years ago, he was winning in the Gen 7 car. So, I don’t know where it is. You have no idea where it is until you see Kyle in a competitive car.” It’s not that RCR isn’t aware of the competitive gap. In fact, Richard Childress accepted that the team is making the necessary changes behind the scenes.

“We’ve got to make changes that we’ve got to make. We know our weaknesses right now at RCR, and we’re working to get them better. This car [Next Gen car] is so engineer-driven, we have to get a little more on that engineering side. And moving forward, you’re going to see a better RCR,” Childress said last year at the fall Richmond race. Racing is an expensive sport indeed, but it doesn’t help if the team isn’t able to provide its star driver with the necessary resources to be in contention.

Believe it or not, Kyle Busch is the highest-paid driver in the Cup Series garage. He earns $16.9 million. Now that is a big number for a driver who has gone almost three years without a race win. Perhaps this is why his former teammate, Denny Hamlin, had some strong opinions on Rowdy’s current run. “Clearly, RCR is not good right now. But you’re a Hall of Fame, Mount Rushmore driver. Carry it better than your teammate, then.” Well, RCR has brought Andy Street back into the mix as Rowdy’s crew chief, but what if this band-aid fix doesn’t do the trick?

Despite the glaring signs for the No. 8 team, Dale Jr. still feels RCR is better off with Busch. “I would say Kyle’s record, experience, knowledge, and overall ability still make him the safer choice. Right now, I’d still put Kyle Busch in the car before I’d put Jesse Love in.” But you cannot ignore Love’s rapid rise through the ranks, which has brought him into this conversation.

Jesse Love is a rising star, and while RCR’s Cup program might be in disarray, the O’Reilly Series is their stomping ground. Love won the 2025 championship, beating another rising talent, Connor Zilisch. And his 2026 season is looking strong as well, with four Top 5 finishes so far. So, RCR has an ace up its sleeve in case things go wrong with Kyle Busch by the end of this year. This doesn’t mean RCR isn’t making efforts to continue with Busch.

Only last year, there was a big overhaul within the RCR leadership team. Keith Rodden was promoted to vice president of competition, and John Klausmeier joined the team as a technical director to oversee their engineering program.

But as the narrative shifts from driver to internal team changes, Junior did not hesitate to back his ex-crew chief up as he saw him getting replaced by Andy Street.

Dale Jr. relates to Busch’s crew chief swap struggles

Dale Junior has had his fair share of success and downfall is in the NASCAR Cup Series champion. And why his JR Motorsports ex-crew chief Jim Pohlman, is no longer serving as Busch’s crew chief, he was not removed from RCR entirely.

Instead, he shifted into a leadership position within the competition department of 10 races of disappointing results alongside Busch.

The move reflects the organisation’s attempt to shake things up without fully parting ways, but it also has another layer of change to a team already searching for stability.

For Junior, the situation is close to home because he understands exactly what a mid-season crew chief feels like. “I’ve been in this situation when you make a change mid-season. It is really hard to find positivity and try to figure out how to be hopeful that things are going to improve,” Junior admitted.

They come from personal experience, navigating similar struggles during his own career, where crew chief changes often arrived during difficult stretches. That perspective became even more relevant considering Busch’s earlier jab: “It’s never Junior. It’s always the crew chief,” remark aimed at Junior’s own past frustrations.

However, Junior has not ignored the irony. And Busch’s recent history bags set up – from Randal Brunnett to Andy Street to Jim Pohlman and back to Street again, the revolving door of crew chief changes has only made the search for consistency more complicated.