RCR's new competition director eyes fixes after Kyle Busch's slump - "We need to improve on the product"

Keith Rodden, Competition Director at Richard Childress Racing, has recently revealed what Kyle Busch and the number 8 team need to regain their winning momentum. Rodden was named the interim Competition Director shortly after Andy Petree, the former executive vice president, announced last Tuesday that he would retire, effective immediately.

Kyle Busch drives the number 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing. Speaking of Busch's season, Rodden said that bringing better and more consistent cars on the racetrack is what the team needs to do. Today, Kyle Busch is 17th on the points table and 45 points behind the playoffs cutline. Moreover, he is currently on a 39-race winless streak.

A bounce back is possible if the overall racing product is upgraded. Explaining the same, Rodden said in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR radio,

"We have a lot of talented men and women at RCR and ECR and we know that we can put out a winning product out there. We were able to win three races with Kyle (Busch) last year on the #8... So, we have the right people."

2023 was Busch's first season with Richard Childress Racing. After bagging wins at Fontana, Talladega, and the World Wide Technology Raceway, the 39-year-old driver moved to ninth on the all-time Cup Series wins list, 13 victories behind the legendary Dale Earnhardt. Besides that, the Las Vegas native led 241 laps and amassed 10 top-5s and 17 top-10s.

Unfortunately, Kyle Busch seemed to have issues adjusting to the RCR Chevy, especially on short tracks, other than Richmond, where he finished third last year in the summer. However, he finished 14th at Richmond in the spring race. His other short-track finishes were 21st and 27th at Martinsville (spring and fall, respectively) and a P20 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

"We need to give the drivers consistent cars that they can go out there and show their talent with. And then we need to bring them back on the racetrack and improve on the product," Rodden added.

Kyle Busch breaks down his New Hampshire outing

Kyle Busch received a DNF at the 1.058-mile racetrack, also his third in the last four races. The veteran racer lost grip on the rain tires and crashed under caution coming off of turn 3. He was not able to continue the race after that.

Here is a video of Busch's car wrecking out at the NHMS:

"We didn’t get to qualify on Saturday and had only five minutes of practice," Busch told NBC Sports, as reported by On3. "The FICO Camaro was a handful in the race but Randall Burnett (crew chief) kept making changes."

Busch was not sure exactly why his car got loose and rammed into the outside wall. Hinting that it might have been an issue with the car, he said,

"We’ll take the FICO Chevy back to the shop to evaluate what happened and how we can improve on our New Hampshire package."

Kyle Busch's next race is at Nashville Superspeedway. The 300-lap event, called the Ally 400, will start at 3:30 p.m. ET on June 30, Sunday.