When Richard Childress Racing signed Kyle Busch nearly a year ago, talk turned to championships for an organization that hadn’t won a Cup title since 1994.
Sunday’s Cup playoff opener at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET on USA Network) begins that quest. Busch, a two-time series champion, is seeded fifth in the 16-driver field.
“A lot of people ask me why I’m still in this sport,” car owner Richard Childress said last September. “I’m still wanting to win that next Cup championship.
“I know I’ve got a driver here, not that I haven’t had drivers that could do it, not that Austin (Dillon) can’t do it … but I think it increases our odds with Kyle in there to win a championship for our car.”
Busch is RCR’s only chance for the title after Dillon failed to make the playoffs this season.
Richard Childress Racing’s history centers around Dale Earnhardt, who won six of his seven series titles with the organization. Since Earnhardt’s last crown in 1994, RCR has not had a driver finish better than second in the standings — Earnhardt did in 1995 and 2000 and Ryan Newman did in 2014.
Meanwhile, Hendrick Motorsports won 14 Cup championships in that 28-season period.
Richard Childress Racing had some strong seasons with Kevin Harvick, but he scored his Cup title in 2014 — in his first season after leaving RCR.
Since Harvick’s departure, Richard Childress Racing struggled to be competitive on a consistent basis. Tyler Reddick won three races last year, but he was eliminated in the first round and then moved to 23XI Racing.
Busch’s past success had Childress looking ahead last September.
“I know how serious he is about winning that next championship,” Childress said of Busch. “The motivation side of it is one thing. I think with his knowledge of cars, and his knowledge as a racer, he’s going to bring some stuff to the table.”
Busch presented new ideas to RCR upon his arrival, and pushed the organization to improve.
“Just how you perceive data, look at data, what data you really need,” Busch said of ideas he brought from Joe Gibbs Racing, his home for 15 seasons. “What’s important after practices, after races, things like that. That’s the biggest thing from there.
“They’ve got a good process and procedure of how they do stuff and how they build cars, and I didn’t see anything in that (to change). But they’ve done a really good job of taking in some of my ideas and being able to implement that.”
Busch has won three races this season, taking the checkered flag at Fontana, Talladega and Gateway. His goal, he says, is always five victories a season.
“Anytime you look at a championship season of a driver, they’ve got around five wins,” Busch said. “That’s been a good year. You can always bank yourself as being a championship guy if you have five wins.”
Should Busch win the title this season, he’d become only the second driver in Cup history to win multiple crowns with a team before winning a championship with a different team. Tony Stewart is the only one to do so, winning two titles for Joe Gibbs Racing (2002 and ’05) before winning a crown at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2011.
“I think moving teams is always kind of scary, going to a new school or whatever is kind of un-nerving,” Busch said. “But it’s been really good. Randall (Burnett, crew chief) has made it super easy. Everybody at RCR has been great.
“My thing now is just to try and reward them with the skill and everything I know that I have to be able to go out there and … to bring home a championship.
“But more importantly, just make that final four. The potential is there. The stuff is there. The team is there. We just have to execute, and that starts with me.”
2. Ryan Blaney moves forward
Ryan Blaney says he was sore from his head-on crash into the Daytona International Speedway SAFER barrier last week but credited NASCAR’s safety efforts with preventing serious injury.
NASCAR implemented changes in June that softened a car’s front end, allowing it to absorb more energy in an impact. The changes came after Ryan Preece’s car slammed into the right side door of Kyle Larson’s car at Talladega in April.
Blaney was collected in a crash at the end of the second stage at Daytona. Christopher Bell’s push turned teammate Ty Gibbs, sending Gibbs car into the right rear of Blaney’s car. That shot Blaney’s car into the wall.
Blaney declined to reveal the G-force spike in the crash but said it was the highest he had experienced.
“The right side of my chest was pretty sore for a couple of days,” Blaney said. “Neck, back stuff was pretty sore. … Nothing too severe.”
He said he didn’t anticipate the soreness affecting him in Sunday’s Southern 500.
Blaney is among the drivers who wear a mouthpiece that allows researchers ways to study the impact of a crash on a driver.
“I was kind of reluctant at first to do it because it didn’t feel good,” Blaney said of the mouthpiece. “It’s like you’re wearing a retainer for 500 miles and it can be uncomfortable.”
Blaney worked with officials from NASCAR and Wake Forest School of Medicine to make the mouthpiece more comfortable for drivers.
He’s worn the mouthpiece, which collects on-track driver head kinematics, in nearly every race this season. He talked with officials from NASCAR and Wake Forest School of Medicine about what the mouthpiece data showed from his crash last weekend.
“They do a good job of listening and understanding,” Blaney said of the officials. “I appreciate them for explaining and then kind of listening to my little thoughts.”
3. View from the top
William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. each enter the playoffs with 2,036 points after the points reset. Byron is listed as the points leader based on having five wins to Truex’s three this year.
While Byron and Truex have combined to win 30% of the races in the regular season, they’ve won only two of the last 10 races.
Does Byron have to do anything different entering the playoffs?
“I don’t think we change a thing,” he said. “The intensity of the moment already elevates your performance a little bit. I know we’re good enough, I know we’re capable. I know my best is good enough. I feel like for me, it’s more the same.
“It’s trying to approach each track individually and not look too far ahead. That’s really the thing I’ve learned, not to get ahead of ourselves. We can’t be thinking about the Round of 12, we can’t be thinking about the Round of 8. We’ve got to be focused on Darlington right now.”
Truex won the regular-season championship after missing the playoffs last year.
“The day after (the season finale at) Phoenix last year, it was like, ‘We are getting to work,’” Truex said. “It really lit a fire under everybody to just show how bad they wanted it and go to work on it.”
The regular-season champion has gone on to win the Cup title in 2017 (Truex), 2019 (Kyle Busch) and 2021 (Kyle Larson).
4. The most dangerous team in the playoffs?
It could be Tyler Reddick and his 23XI Racing team.
Reddick has never made it out of the first round in his two previous playoff appearances, but there is a path for him to reach the title race in Phoenix.
Reddick enters the playoffs 10th. He’s two points above the cutline. He was second at Darlington in May 2022 and third in this race a year ago. The Toyotas look to be strong the following week at Kansas.
Should he get into the second round, Texas, another 1.5-mile track that should suit the Toyotas, could be a spot to win. If not, the cutoff race at the Charlotte Roval could be Reddick’s ticket with how strong he has been on road courses.
The third round includes Homestead-Miami Speedway. While Kyle Larson is often viewed as the favorite at that track, Reddick also has been strong there.
While it’s easy to envision a route for Reddick, the reality is the team has struggled with its execution this season. If the mistakes continue, Reddick’s playoffs won’t last long. If they can be fixed, Reddick may be a factor.
Reddick said he feels his team has the speed to contend. He ranks seventh in fastest laps run this season.
“There’ll be mistakes made,” Reddick said of his competition. “We’ve just got to capitalize on it. That’s how you win races now, honestly. You capitalize on mistakes of others. That’s what this playoffs will be like.”
5. To the point
Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, was succinct when asked Thursday about the negotiations between team owners and NASCAR on extending the charter system and making changes to the financial model.
“It’s one step forward, two steps back,” Hamlin said.
Asked how the negotiations are now, Hamlin said: “Not well. … I don’t want to get into it but it’s not on track.”
Asked how to bridge the gap between teams wanting to have a charter system remain in perpetuity while NASCAR has had reservations, Hamlin said: “I’m not sure.
“I think the teams’ ask has been very legitimate and not off in the left field by any means for sure. You’re going to have to chase down Jim (France, NASCAR Chairman) and ask for a reason because there’s not really a good reason, but the answer has been no.”