Kyle Busch is a gift that has almost stopped giving. Once a championship contender with Joe Gibbs Racing driving the famed M&M Camry has now crossed more than 100 races without a win with RCR. Everyone goes through such phases, right? But for Busch, this winless streak seems like a never-ending cycle. And while the fans are already discussing his future moves, his former teammate Denny Hamlin perhaps made the most shocking argument.

When asked about Kyle Busch’s future beyond 2026, Hamlin’s response led to more questions than answers. “You retire then?” Now that’s insane. Speaking about records or trophies, Busch has the leg up over Hamlin. Yet, the JGR driver made some strong arguments that Rowdy Nation might be ready to listen.

“This is not new news, though. We keep talking about this. In his last couple of years at Gibbs, things were not good. This is not new… This is not, ‘oh my gosh, where is this coming from?’ This has been like this for five years. We have to have an honest conversation at some point,” Hamlin explained on his podcast, Actions Detrimental. And if we are to go by historical precedence, Busch’s time might be numbered as Hamlin pointed out.

“What happened to Jimmie Johnson? Last couple of years at Hendrick, he went from f–king kicking our a– every good damn week to suddenly not winning and not running well, immediately. It was like a light switch.” Unfortunately for Kyle Busch, this light switch has turned off, and more so in the Next Gen era. While the 2023 season stands out with 3 Cup wins with the No. 8 team, since then, it has been a rough ride. But it’s not like Busch hasn’t come close to winning.

Remember the 2024 Daytona and Darlington races, where the RCR was oh so close, but had to settle for runner-up finishes instead. Expectedly, this ‌has led to resentment from Rowdy toward his team. In fact, things are so bad that even team members themselves aren’t sure of the plan on Sundays. Things are so bad that even the team members aren’t sure of the plan on Sundays. Busch’s crew chief, Jim Pohlman, lost his cool last Sunday in Bristol while arguing with spotter Derek Kneeland. “I know you’re frustrated. Us yelling at each other during the race isn’t going to help. … We’re in this together,” Derek Kneeland tells Jim Pohlman. But Pholman’s reply just exposed RCR’s disjointed structure: “It’s the same sh-t every week.”

So where do we go from here? Is there light at the end of the tunnel for Kyle Busch? Well, Hamlin doesn’t think so, “If you’re expecting Kyle Busch to just go back to Victory Lane on a regular basis, you’re kidding yourselves, and you’re going to be very disappointed.”

While RCR is not providing Busch with the right machinery or a strong team, it is hard to predict if other teams will be more competitive. The Big 3 of the field have younger and more competitive drivers, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to sign Busch. So, what will he do in the future?

Is the Truck Series the answer for Kyle Busch?

Kyle Busch has been struggling. This statement is true, but only for the Cup Series. Apart from competing in the dirt, there is one more series that Busch loves to compete in – the Truck Series.

In the past three seasons (including 2026), Busch has run twelve Truck races and managed to win four of them. Apart from those race wins, he was extremely competitive in the others, bringing in mostly top 10 finishes. Now, this rings a positive bell for Busch and Spire Motorsports at the same time.

He has been running these races for Spire this whole time since 2024. It is no secret that he is extremely competent in the series, and that is the one place where his age and experience seem to be paying off.

He would miss out on the chance of clinching his third Cup Series championship, but let’s face the reality here: Is he going to win it anyway? Busch hasn’t even finished in the top 10 so far this season, and he, more often than not, finds himself battling for positions in the middle of the field. This, combined with Denny Hamlin’s ‘not finding a team’ narrative, only speaks of one answer: switching series.

At the end of the day, it wouldn’t be too bad for him. If Kyle Busch does make a deal with Spire Motorsports and gets a full-time seat in the Truck Series, he could find himself contending for the championship, considering the performance he has been delivering in recent years. And this would be a much more fruitful end to his career, rather than ending it with RCR in the Cup Series.