“The injury was easy compared to this” - Kyle Busch claims RCR’s struggles outweigh his 2015 Daytona crash

NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch, who has been going through a tough season, spoke about the struggles he has faced with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) in 2024. Busch compared his challenging season to the severe injuries he sustained during the Xfinity race at Daytona International Speedway in 2015.

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season has been topsy-turvy for the #8 RCR Chevrolet driver. He faced multiple setbacks, including mechanical issues, on-track incidents and inconsistent performances. He has been winless in 45 races.

Speaking to NBC Sports about his struggling season ahead of the Daytona Summer race, Kyle Busch admitted that recovering from his Daytona Xfinity crash was much easier than the challenges he has been going through.

“The injury was easy compared to this. That was nothing. I’ll take that all day long if it means that same thing afterwards,” Busch said.

Kyle Busch’s 2015 Daytona crash left him with a fracture on his right leg and left foot, sidelining him for the first 11 NASCAR Cup Series races that season. Despite that, he went on to win five races, including three straight wins, and the NASCAR Cup Series championship later that season.

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“We know we’re not doing the best right”: Kyle Busch on his recent struggles

The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has been experiencing the longest winless streak of his career.

In the aforementioned interview, Busch reflected on the challenges he has faced during a tough period in his racing career. Despite the ongoing struggles, Busch praised the support he's received from his #8 RCR team:

“I’ve been down before, although probably never as long or as low as this has been, but there’s a lot of great people that are around me. Everybody on the 8 team has really put their arm around me and patted me on the back, like ‘We got you man.’

“We know we’re not doing the best right now, so we’re all trying to strive to get better and put ourselves in the spots that we all want to be in. It’s not due to a lack of effort. I know that. There’s plenty of hard work going around. It’s just a matter of being a little bit better at it, being a little bit smarter at it and trying to make the most of it.”

However, Kyle Busch is coming off a P4 finish at FireKeepers Casino 400 last week, his first top-five results since Dover Motor Speedway in April.

With two races remaining in the regular season, the 39-year-old driver needs a win to qualify for the playoffs. He's 18th in the Cup Series playoff standings.