“He can get the job done”: Kyle Busch’s new crew chief entails faith in NASCAR champ

Kyle Busch parted ways with Randall Burnett mid-season at Richard Childress Racing this year, and the announcement that Jim Pohlman will become crew chief for the No. 8 team in 2026 has brought fresh hope.

Busch's last Cup Series win came in June 2023, at Gateway. Since then, he has gone more than two seasons and 93 races without reaching Victory Lane. Pohlman has achieved success in the Xfinity Series as crew chief for Justin Allgaier, whom he has helped win races and consistently build performance.

In a recent interview with RACER, Pohlman showed faith in Busch to break the longest winless stretch of his 22-year Cup career.

"I don't think .... that he's lost a step. I feel confident, if we can put some good race cars underneath him, he can get the job done. So, yeah, I'm excited to see that fire in him and that passion. I know that he wants to be back there, and it was really clear in all the meetings," Pohlman said.

This season was another upset for Busch. He ended the year with zero wins, the lowest top-fives of his career, and a 21st-place finish in the final point standings.

"He wants to be there, and if we perform next year, he's going to continue to be there. That's the way I look at it, too. It's a performance-based industry, and if you're not performing, why would you want to be there?" Pohlman added.

Kyle Busch failed to crack the top-3 this season. His best finish was fifth place, which he managed in three races. In 2024, the 40-year-old had two near misses at Darlington and Daytona, where he finished seconds behind the winner, but five of his final nine race finishes fell outside the top 20.

Busch also signed a one-year extension with RCR in May that extends through 2026.

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Kyle Busch's 2025 troubles: No wins and a lawsuit

Kyle Busch collected three top-10 finishes in the first four races this season. Notably, he ran strongly at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and led a race-high 42 laps, finishing fifth. He also scored two other top-5s at the Chicago Street Race and the Cup Series' finale at Phoenix.

But for much of the season, the car underdelivered. In the final stretch, Busch managed just two top-10s in the last nine races. His RCR teammate, Austin Dillon, in the No. 3 Chevy, did win at Richmond and made the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch is also dealing with a lawsuit. Earlier this month, the two-time NASCAR Cup champion and his wife, Samantha, sued Pacific Life over indexed universal life policies. They complained that they had paid approximately $10.4 million in premiums and suffered more than $8.58 million in out-of-pocket losses.