"Worst year of his career" - NASCAR fans slam RCR after Kyle Busch's steering issues at Pocono

Ahead of the Great American Getaway 400, Kyle 'Rowdy' Busch faced troubles during his practice session, amid struggles to make his mark in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. Fans of the sport had a go at Richard Childress Racing when #8 Busch reported a 'sticky' steering wheel while taking laps at the Pocono Raceway.

Two-time Cup Series champion Busch is on the verge of missing his first playoffs in twenty years. Busch, who has amassed 63 Cup Series wins in his career, stands winless in the current Cup season. The 39-year-old Busch who secured three wins for RCR last season hasn't been able to continue his momentum into the 2024 season.

During the practice session at 'The Tricky Triangle', #8 Busch reported an issue with his steering wheel, calling it "stuck and sticky".

Here's what NASCAR posted on X:

"Not an ideal start to the weekend for the No. 8. @KyleBusch reports issues with the steering."

RCR driver Busch is set to start the race at P24 with a qualifying speed of 53.756 seconds. However, the NASCAR community on X (formerly Twitter) noted Busch's struggle with his #8 Chevy and slammed Richard Childress' team.

With Busch on a winless run this season so far, a fan said:

"Worst year of his career,"

"Kyle cannot get a break." a second user said.

While other NASCAR fans found fault RCR for their machinery:

"RCR strikes again! You have to admire their commitment to discovering new ways to tank a car." anaser wrote.

"I've hated him the majority of his career, but he's too good for RCR. He's got way too much talent not to be in a better ride" another user added.

Here are some more reactions from fans on X:

"No week is an ideal start for the 8 this year it’s terrible," a fan said.

"RCR is sabotaging him," another fan said.

"By now, are we even shocked?" a fan added.

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"Hendrick seems to be doing just fine," - Kyle Busch feels RCR can up their performance levels this Cup season

With drivers and teams deep into the regular season, Rowdy Busch is on the verge of missing his first NASCAR playoffs in a career spanning over 20 years. With two top-five and six top-ten finishes this season, the Las Vegas native is battling for a playoff spot.

In a conversation, #8 Busch claimed that RCR needs to catch up with other Chevy organizations like Hendrick Motorsports. He said (via NBC Sports):

"It’s just the competition side, the engineering side, all of that stuff and be making sure that we’re doing all the best we can and understanding the information we have given to us the best we can as there are other Chevy teams that are being able to do a better job than what we are with all of that."

"If we were the best of the Chevy teams and we were struggling and not winning, then it would be a different problem across the board, but Hendrick seems to be doing just fine, so we’ve got to catch up to at least that." Busch added.

As NASCAR Cup teams and drivers gear up for the race in the Pocono Mountains, #8 Busch sits at P17 in the overall Cup Series standings. He is 98 points below the cut line for the 2024 playoffs.