“Do you think Kyle Busch has lost his talent?” - Dale Earnhardt Jr. puzzled by co-host’s bizarre question involving RCR and their #8 driver

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was caught off guard after Kyle Busch's jolted 2024 Cup Series season prompted Dale Jr. Download's co-host to question the Richard Childress Racing driver's racing prowess. The retired NASCAR legend, however, sided with the two-time Cup Series champion while unveiling RCR under immense pressure.

Busch is the winningest active Cup Series driver with 63 wins to his name and 231 combined in all three NASCAR series. However, after witnessing the woeful season of the RCR driver so far with more DNFs than top-5s at 5, co-host Andrew Kurland pondered whether Busch was getting older or his team was at fault. Earnhardt Jr. expressed it's not the 39-year-old's flaw and laid bare the reasons for his take.

"Do you think Kyle Busch has lost his talent? Why are you asking me that?... Do you know that [he] is one of the best drivers? The pressure has to be on RCR here. I have never worked with Kyle but I have heard that the guy is hands-on. Kyle Busch, I don't believe is at fault because 'he's not plugged in, not available, not accountable,'" Earnhardt Jr. said via Dirty Mo Media on X (0.14).

"I'm just saying we know he's talented, we know he can drive, I also believe that he's likely doing all of the things off the track. I believe he would be very vocal about things that he thinks they can do to get better. I say that because a lot of times when a driver gets in this situation, they disappear, they go off, and they hide and they distance themselves and it creates bigger problem," Junior added.

When Kyle Busch left Joe Gibbs Racing's stable to join hands with RCR in 2023, the Nevada native settled in 14th place with three wins, 10 top-5s, and 17 top-10s. But it's been over a year since his last victorious run, on the World Wide Technology Raceway.

RCR's unpreparedness and recent disappointment at Pocono have given another blow to Kyle Busch's playoff odds

When the current Cup season kicked off, Kyle Busch's team didn't have consistent personnel for the first few race weekends and was doing off-season things during the on-season. Moreover, after the departure of RCR's VP of Competition Andy Petree, Keith Rodden took charge. Rodden was initially relieved as Austin Dillion's teammate but was reinstated much higher in the hierarchy.

The unpreparedness played its part in the roller coaster of outcomes for the #8 Chevy which succumbed to five DNFs, from the past seven outings this season, slashing his chances of punching a ticket to the playoffs. The most recent disappointment came at the Pocono Raceway where he encountered a double whammy of setbacks in a single debacle.

After an oil leak was discovered in Busch's Chevy, the veteran driver was sent to the rear of the pack in P24 to kick off his Great American Getaway 400 race as any repair work done post-qualifying results in a back-of-the-pack start.

Furthermore, with just 40 laps until the checkered flag dropped on the Tricky Triangle, the RCR driver got wrecked by Corey LaJoie. As a result, Kyle Busch drifted on the infield grass, reentered the asphalt, collected four more cars, and marked his fifth DNF this season.

The Nevada native is 102 points shy of the playoff threshold and only five races are left for him to turn the tables around in his favor.