Busch, 38, tied William Byron for the most wins in the series with his third victory of the year on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
In 2019, Busch finished with five victories and earned his second Cup title with Joe Gibbs Racing, marking the last time he accomplished this feat.
It’s hard to imagine Busch’s first season with Richard Childress Racing getting off to a better start, but he and No. 8 Chevrolet crew chief Randall Burnett know they have a long way to go before Busch can win a third Cup title.
We’ve been on some incredible winning streaks. We’ve won three victories, which is fantastic. We’ve had our share of bad days, too,” Busch admitted. So far this year, we’ve had both highs and lows.
We need to find the more advanced planes in order to even things out. A victory in Randall’s hometown of St. Louis would be a great boost for the area. They’re all on such a high right now.
“Everyone here at the company has been working extremely hard and doing an excellent job.”
Image by: Nigel Kinrade/ NKP/ Motorsport Images
When Busch became a free agent at the end of last season, RCR seemed like an unlikely landing spot, but the pairing has produced significant benefits for both the driver and the company so far.
Early in the season, Busch won the second race of the year at Auto Club Speedway in California. In April, he also triumphed on the superspeedway at Talladega.
However, there have been fights sprinkled in amongst his victories, particularly at the shorter tracks.
He finished in the top 21 in all three events (Richmond, Virginia; Martinsville, Virginia; Dover, Delaware). In five races on tracks shorter than one mile in length, he has led 37 laps.
Phoenix, a mile-long racetrack, will determine the series winner. In the spring race there, Busch finished seventh after pausing to lead a lap.
We have a lot of potential, in my opinion. Burnett said, “I think we’ve got a lot to tidy up, and we discuss it consistently.” We’ve had some really fast cars and eliminated ourselves from races by making mistakes and other silly mistakes.
“Kyle and I, and the rest of our team, have discussed this, and we all agree that we need to clean it up on our end, especially if we want to finish as the champion.
“This bundle of intermediate work is wrapping up fast. We haven’t gotten the hang of what he needs out of a car on a short track yet, so we’ve been having a lot of trouble with the shorter tracks.
A title-contender?
Busch said the team as a whole has been working hard to make him feel at home in the vehicles at every circuit, with the expectation that he will rack up more victories and perhaps even win the championship this year. Not since 1994 has RCR been crowned champion.
To find out “what it’s going to have the ability to require to get me comfortable in order to make me quick,” we’re really putting our heads down and digging in, so to speak. What Busch said.
You can’t ride poorly if you don’t have a good horse. We’ve only had a couple so far this year.
According to Burnett, Busch’s transition to RCR was “very easy.”
As for lot No. 8, I couldn’t be more pleased. They’ve dug in their heels rather firmly. Burnett remarked that Kyle “has actually fit right in with them,” referring to the team’s fantastic collection of individuals and terrific group of racers.
We’re all working together to achieve this goal because “he’s done a terrific job of adjusting over here” and “he’s provided a lot of insight on his side to how to make things much better, too.”