![\"Kyle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-1472848271-e1679603551638.jpg\")
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Kyle Busch will add another race to his schedule. <\/p>\n
Kyle Busch heads into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> season facing the longest winless stretch of his career: 93 races without a victory. While he started strong with Richard Childress Racing in 2023, securing three early-season wins, his results since then have declined.<\/p>\n As NASCAR delves deeper into the Next Gen era, Busch has observed other teams catching up. He attributes RCR\u2019s faded advantage to performance gaps. Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/a>, Busch detailed how the team\u2019s early edge diminished and why finding speed has become a greater challenge for 2026.<\/p>\n Kyle Busch Describes RCR\u2019s Early Edge With the Next Gen Car<\/p>\n In 2022, when NASCAR debuted the Next Gen car<\/a>, Richard Childress Racing adapted quickly. According to Busch<\/a>, the team grasped how the new car responded to tweaks better than most, leading to an immediate advantage. This expertise enabled him to win almost immediately after joining RCR<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like at that time with RCR, having the experience and the know-how of developing this car, they were a little bit ahead of all of the rest of the teams.\u201d<\/p>\n That advantage, however, faded over time. While other teams improved, RCR struggled to keep up. Busch noted how the gap became evident when he compared notes with other drivers.<\/p>\n \u201cI just kind of feel like, over time, we lost a little bit of that where other people have made their cars better.\u00a0 I talk to other drivers, and they\u2019re like, \u2018my car doesn\u2019t drive like that.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018well, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve got.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Busch also pushed back on the idea that the Next Gen car limits development. While the parts are standardized, he said teams still find ways to gain speed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe teams have learned and adapted and done things that are just better than others. You would say, \u2018Well, how can you do that? It\u2019s a Lego car. Everybody buys all the same stuff.\u2019 Trust me, you can work on these Legos a little bit to make yours better than the next guy\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Performance Drop Shows in the Results<\/p>\n Busch\u2019s results reflect the issues he described. In 2023, he won three races, all in the first half of the season. His playoff run ended in the Round of 12. Since then, the results have fallen off.<\/p>\n Busch tallied eight top-five finishes in 2023, but that number dropped sharply over the next two seasons. Average finishes slipped, and finding consistent speed proved difficult. Meanwhile, teams such as Hendrick Motorsports<\/a>, Team Penske<\/a>, and Joe Gibbs Racing<\/a> continued to win races and contend week after week.<\/p>\n Kyle Busch said the solution remains simple, even if it is hard to achieve.<\/p>\n \u201cFast cars cure all. When I went to RCR, we went to Fontana, and we won our second race. It\u2019s not that we can\u2019t do it. It\u2019s just that we have to be better than all the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n With each race, the pressure mounts for the No. 8 team as the winless streak lingers. Now beginning his 22nd Cup season, Busch chases the performance that once seemed routine.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDogli Wilberforce<\/a> is a sports writer who covers NASCAR, Formula 1 and IndyCar Series for Heavy Sports. With bylines at Total Apex Sports and Last Word on Sports, Wilberforce has built a reputation for delivering timely, engaging coverage that blends sharp analysis with accessible storytelling. Wilberforce has covered everything from major football transfers to fight-night drama, bringing readers the insight and context behind the headlines. More about Dogli Wilberforce<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Kyle Busch will add another race to his schedule. Kyle Busch heads into the 2026 NASCAR Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-447592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}