Kyle Busch struggles with Next Gen car as his trademark aggressive driving style has become a disadvantage in the latest NASCAR era, triggering scrutiny from fellow veteran Kevin Harvick. Since the introduction of the new vehicle, Busch has endured a string of poor finishes, with Richard Childress Racing fighting to find competitiveness while the unforgiving setup of the Next Gen machine exposes Busch’s difficulty in adapting.
Challenges in Adapting to the Next Gen Car
Since making his mark as one of NASCAR’s most relentless and daring competitors, Kyle Busch earned two Cup championships and more than 60 career wins, often thriving by pushing cars beyond their perceived limits. The switch to the Next Gen model in 2022 fundamentally altered the landscape, demanding a conservative, measured approach and punishing drivers who overstep the vehicle’s narrow setup window. For Busch, who raced to victory with audacious moves in previous generations, the Next Gen’s precise aerodynamics and tight handling characteristics have significantly undercut his advantage.
In the new era, Busch’s attempts to wring more out of his No. 8 chevrolet/”>Chevrolet have often ended in frustration. His race outcomes since 2022 reveal an ongoing struggle: wins have dwindled, and 2025 has seen numerous spins and disappointing finishes. The No. 8 team at Richard Childress Racing has been unable to supply the raw speed necessary to suit Busch’s competitive instincts, exposing a growing divide between his ambitions and the car’s limitations.
Kevin Harvick, long a fixture in the Cup garage and now a TV analyst, publicly criticized Busch’s approach, noting a refusal or inability to recalibrate for the Next Gen car.
“Kyle Busch turns things around almost weekly, unfortunately. He got a little spin again this week. I think the Kyle Busch question is, it’s going to be tough. You know. I think their cars are just off. I think that. Kyle, being Kyle, wants to push it faster, further than, and make things try to go faster, and when you do that in this car, you spin out,”
—Kevin Harvick, retired NASCAR driver and TV analyst.
Harvick’s assessment underscores a turbulent season for Busch, who has repeatedly found himself losing control in key races like the Southern 500 at Darlington and the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway. Rather than securing victories, 2025 has become a grind for Busch, with the pursuit of speed often resulting in single-car incidents that leave him far from contention. While his aggressive mindset once fueled dominant stretches—highlighted by eight wins in 2008 while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing—those same instincts now more frequently lead him to crash out rather than capitalize.
Expanding on Busch’s predicament, Harvick stated,
“He’s just in a tough spot right now with where the cars are performing, and it seems like it goes overboard almost on a weekly basis. You know, with the spinouts and things that have happened because there’s just no cushion there and you can’t make the thing do more than it’ll do. That’s hard because he’s not been programmed that way for his whole career.”
—Kevin Harvick, retired NASCAR driver and TV analyst.
His comments capture the heart of Busch’s challenge. The Gen-5 and Gen-6 cars Busch raced for much of his career featured higher levels of sideforce and greater tire degradation—attributes that rewarded bold, on-the-edge driving. The arrival of the Next Gen platform, with its tighter grip, reduced sideforce, and lower horsepower, has removed the gray areas on which Busch thrived. Pushing just a little too far now results in a spin or crash instead of a dramatic save.
Statistically, the impact is glaring. Busch experienced 12 finishes of twentieth place or worse in 2024, marking his toughest campaign since 2015. Frustrations boiled over on the radio after a crash at the 2023 Charlotte ROVAL, signaling how ill-suited the current rules and vehicles are to his skill set and preferences.
Harvick drew a direct line between Busch’s setup approach and the persistent performance gap at Richard Childress Racing. Other teams such as Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and 23XI Racing have adapted more quickly to the Next Gen world, whereas RCR and the No. 8 crew remain a step behind, leaving Busch repeatedly overdriving a car that simply cannot be forced to perform beyond its capacity. This stubborn mismatch between driving style and machinery has produced the repeated cycle of risk-taking and disappointment.
Richard Childress Racing Team’s Wider Troubles Impacting Results
The issues with the Next Gen car at Richard Childress Racing have not been limited to Kyle Busch. Austin Dillon, his teammate, has also been mired in underperformance. The No. 3 RCR Chevrolet struggled throughout the 2025 season, despite a critical win at Richmond securing Dillon’s playoff spot. Dillon’s year has been defined by a middling average finish of 20.071 and an average starting spot of 18.821, while Busch missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season with an average result of 17.929.
The Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway painted an accurate picture of the team’s struggles. Busch started and finished 22nd, while Dillon slipped from 15th on the grid to an 18th-place finish. Richard Childress himself voiced dissatisfaction with the cars over the radio at Dover, acknowledging that the equipment had fallen behind the competition and vowing to push for improvements. However, tangible progress has been hard to come by thus far.
Dillon’s frustrations repeatedly surfaced during competition. During the Gateway race, he shared his agitation with the team:
“Quit telling me how to drive. I’m driving a piece of s**t. I’m trying to hang onto it.”
—Austin Dillon, NASCAR driver. Even after the race, Dillon did not hold back:
“We didn’t come here with a good race car for some reason. All of our cars were pretty off today; we just missed it.”
—Austin Dillon, NASCAR driver. Despite the setbacks, he made sure to credit his pit crew:
“But this No. 3 Dow DayGlo Chevrolet team did a great job executing with what we had. We got stage points and finished the best we possibly could right there.”
—Austin Dillon, NASCAR driver.
Dillon now sits 11 points under the Round of 12 playoff cutline as the series heads to Bristol, which has typically proven difficult for him, with only one top-five finish in 20 races and an average result of 17.8 at the Tennessee track. The pressure is palpable as both RCR drivers seek consistency to revive the organization’s hopes and make meaningful gains late in the season.
Kyle Busch’s high-profile difficulties therefore reflect a systemic challenge at Richard Childress Racing. Both Busch and Dillon are working to adapt their driving to an uncooperative platform, striving to wring speed out of Chevrolets lagging behind rival teams on development. The lack of progress increases internal and external frustration, intensifying the scrutiny facing the organization as the playoffs unfold.
The Implications for Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing
The struggles of Kyle Busch with the Next Gen car carry weighty implications not just for the driver, but for Richard Childress Racing as a whole. Both Busch and Austin Dillon, key figures within the team, are engaged in a battle to adjust their storied talents to new technical realities. For Busch, the question lingers: can a driver so long defined by bold, near-limitless aggression make the changes required to excel with a rules package that demands discipline and restraint?
Harvick’s forthright critique highlights just how stark the adjustment has become. Busch’s greatest asset—his desire to seek every last hundredth of a second—now risks becoming his undoing. Meanwhile, RCR’s broader technical struggles combine with the challenge of maximizing a platform with little margin for error, placing heightened pressure on all involved.
As the Cup Series pushes deeper into the playoffs, the focus will be on whether Busch and Dillon can find a measure of consistency to salvage RCR’s 2025 campaign and reestablish the organization as a major force. The ongoing difficulties with Kyle Busch struggles with Next Gen car and the pressures they create within one of NASCAR’s iconic teams ensure the remainder of the season will be closely watched for signs of change or further conflict.
