RCR president pinpoints one major change that has worked wonders for Kyle Busch and Co. 

Verlander Stern reportedly shared insights about a significant change at Richard Childress Racing (RCR) that has positively impacted Kyle Busch and his team. According to Clay Today, RCR President Verlander noticed that the pit crew was not taking mistakes seriously during pit stop practices.

As per the article, Stern took decisive action after observing a concerning trend in RCR's pit crew. During pit stop practice sessions, team members would often laugh off errors instead of treating them as serious issues. Verlander, who had previously worked as chief operating officer at RCR and had leadership experience with Kyle Busch Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing, saw this as a major problem.

In the same article, Stern also mentioned team owner Richard Childress, expressing that Richard deserved better. He further acknowledged that the team's goal was to win. Here's a post shared by Adam Stern on X:

".@RCRracing president Mike Verlander: "Richard deserves to have a better NASCAR effort. That’s not a knock at anybody. They've done a great job weathering the storm. Let’s focus on returning it to where he deserves it."

Stern's promotion to president of RCR earlier this year made these changes possible. As of February 2025, he officially took over day-to-day operations across all branches of the company, including the NASCAR race team. Reporting directly to Richard Childress and joining the Board of Directors, Verlander now has higher authority.

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Kyle Busch’s recent performance and struggles

Kyle Busch, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, has had an inconsistent season so far. In the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, he finished 17th, struggling to gain track position in his #8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet. Busch, who started 12th, found his car difficult to handle, facing issues with tightness in the center and looseness on the exit.

Despite the car’s struggles, Busch admitted that his team worked hard throughout the race, making necessary adjustments that improved the car's performance by the end. However, these improvements were not enough to help him climb through the field.

Speaking to NBC Sports after the race, Busch expressed his frustration. In his own words,

"Certainly wasn’t the result we were looking for with our Lucas Oil Chevrolet. We fought with being tight in the center and wrecking loose on exit. The guys stayed after it all day, and it actually drove pretty well towards the end. We just couldn’t gain any track position to be able to do something with it.”

So far in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, Kyle Busch has one top-five and three top-10 finishes in seven races. His best result was a fifth-place finish at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). He’s led a total of 58 laps so far in the season and has an average start and finish of 12.571 and 17.857, respectively.