NASCAR Insider suggests lack of preparation as cause for Kyle Busch and RCR’s woes in 2024

NASCAR insider Brad Gillie has given his verdict on Kyle Busch's poor footing into the current Cup Series season and has blamed Richard Childress Racing for their woeful planning. The 2024 Cup Series season has been nothing short of an unfortunate affair for Kyle Busch. The Richard Childress Racing driver has collected two top-5s and six top-10s from 20 debacles, but his output has largely been poor on the asphalt.

Be it a mechanical error at the World Wide Technology Raceway or getting wrecked out by Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott during the late-race restart at Nashville Speedway, the two-time Cup Series champion has succumbed to DNFs four times this season. Moreover, Busch was on a streak of 3 consecutive DNFs but snapped it after bagging his sixth top-10 finish on the Chicago Street Course.

Motorsports broadcaster and NASCAR insider Brad Gillie laid bare the reason behind Kyle Busch's failure to produce promising results, claiming that RCR failed to prepare aptly when the season began.

"It's almost like the season started and they [RCR] were like, 'Oh, it's here now,' because Kyle Busch went five, six, seven weeks without having a consistent pit crew, they had all the problems there," Gillie said via GoPRNLive on YouTube (at 0:40).

"Then Andy Petree [former VP of Competition at RCR] leaves, and Andy Petree is a guy who comes in and makes your organization better. And then he [Andy] leaves and Keith Rodden, the guy you took off Austin Dillion's pit box is now the one who's in charge of your competition. They [RCR] were making all these offseason moves when the season started," he added.

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Kyle Busch is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012

For the past 20 years, Kyle Busch hasn't witnessed a single winless season and since 2012, he has never failed to make it to playoffs. However, this year's Round of 16 might experience the 63x Cup Series winner's absence.

When Busch switched his garage from Joe Gibbs Racing to RCR in 2023, he started the season with a bang, collecting three wins, one top-5, and four top-10s from the first 15 races. However, the Nevada native couldn't replicate the same this year.

While the RCR driver is placed 17th in the regular season standings, he is performing worse in the playoff race at 19th place. The top 16 advance to the playoffs from which 12 different drivers have already collected a win. Thus, if Kyle Busch fails to secure a win and the remaining five races are won by at least four different racers, then the two-time Cup Series champion will have no chance to make it to the playoffs.

However, if that doesn't come to fruition, then Busch might have a shot at playoffs but he still needs to surpass the 98-point deficit to be eligible.