- Kyle Busch gets a new crew chief just 10 races into the season.
- Busch will reunite with his crew chief from last year.
- See how a crew chief change could impact Busch’s performance.
Kyle Busch’s slump has led to conversations going from fans to insiders and within his own camp. Busch recently took issue with Denny Hamlin’s remarks about his future and his contract year with Richard Childress Racing, where questions have been raised about which team would take him given his run of results, but even Busch knows the score, and that the struggle is real.
As a return to victory lane sits at the top of his list, Richard Childress Racing has moved to shake things up in an attempt to turn the tide. The team has opted for another crew chief change just 10 races into the season, rolling the dice in search of a spark.
Kyle Busch reunites with former crew chief
Richard Childress Racing has named Andy Street as Busch’s crew chief, bringing him back to the pit box after he worked with Busch in the closing races of the 2025 season following Randall Burnett’s exit.
The move came a day after Kyle Busch finished 10th at Talladega, his best result of the 2026 season. Even so, it stretched his winless streak to 103 races and marked the worst start of his career, with an average finish of 22.1.
Street has been part of the Childress setup for 20 years and most recently served as Performance Director. He has called shots in 167 NASCAR O’Reilly races, with 11 wins to his name, and guided Austin Hill to the Championship 4 in 2024. He has also worked with Jesse Love and helped Myatt Snider secure his only win as a driver in the O’Reilly series.
In the final five races of the 2025 Cup season with Street on the box, Busch finished 34th after a crash, followed by results of 8th, 19th, 13th, and 5th in the finale.
Jim Pohlman, who stepped away from a run as crew chief for Justin Allgaier in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series to take over duties for Busch, will now move off the pit box. Pohlman, who won the 2024 title with Allgaier at JR Motorsports, will remain within RCR in a role in the competition department.
Kyle Busch sits 27th in the standings, with the lone bright spot in the Pohlman pairing being a pole at the Daytona 500. Apart from his 10th-place finish at Talladega, he has recorded three top-20 finishes in 2026. 12th at Circuit of the Americas, 15th in the Daytona 500, and 17th at Phoenix.
RCR chairman and CEO Richard Childress said in a release, “This move is about putting our people in the best position to succeed. We have strong talent across this organization, and we’re focused on having each person in the right position to help deliver the results we expect.”
Can the change at the top steady Busch’s ship?
With Street on the box last year, Busch did not collect stage points in the final five races, but the results showed signs of life and hinted at progress. With both sides already familiar with each other, they will not be starting from square one.
However, that said, a switch alone will not bring back results overnight. Kyle Busch has pointed out in recent interviews that in 2023, the team found a setup that put them ahead of the field. And that’s how he won three races earlier in the season.
NASCAR later stepped in and barred that setup, even though it did not break the rulebook, and the decision knocked the team off its stride. Since then, the group has been chasing its tail while other teams have moved ahead.
That’s why expecting a sudden turnaround after the crew chief change would be a stretch. The path forward lies in inching ahead week by week and pulling the No. 8 team out of the hole it finds itself in by the end of the season. Rebuilding a contender will take time and patience.
In many ways, this crew chief switch stands as a last roll of the dice for RCR. Something has to give, and the team must find a way to make something out of next to nothing to keep Busch on board. If not, he may look elsewhere for his next deal, with teams such as Spire Motorsports waiting in the wings.
