When Kyle Busch first made the move to Richard Childress Racing after Joe Gibbs Racing did not re-sign him for 2023, it looked like a stroke of genius on both sides, a move that would rejuvenate both driver and team.
Busch won the season's second race at Auto Club Speedway, and he had emerged as one of the championship favorites by the time he won his third race of the year in early June, after having won three races during his final two seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing combined.
At that point, everything was good. But skip ahead to April 2026, and he hasn't won since.
Kyle Busch's win drought reaches 100 races
Busch is now on a 100-race win drought, by far the longest of his career; his previous longest winless streak was 36 races, which lasted from July 2016 to July 2017. His record-breaking 19-year win streak ended in 2024, when he missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012, and he failed to get back to the playoffs in 2025 as well.
Things aren't getting better for the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet either. Through seven races in 2026, he is 24th in the point standings, and his top finish is 12th. In all 21 of his previous seasons, even 2024 and 2025, he had scored at least one top eight finish by this point in the year.
Busch is in a contract year with Richard Childress Racing, and while many assume he won't be back for a fifth year with his current team in 2027, the real question is probably whether or not he will be in the Cup Series garage at all.
He is set to turn 41 years old in May, and we have seen drivers race at a high level well into their 40s on numerous occasions before. It's also fairly obvious that Richard Childress Racing have not been even close to the level of some of the sport's powerhouse teams for years, even well before Busch's arrival. So Busch should still garner plenty of interest from other teams.
Silly season is shaping up to be far more chaotic this year than it was a year, when only two full-time cars changed hands. Will Busch truly be stuck at 63 wins, or will he find a new home in 2027 and thrive? Could he still turn things around with Richard Childress Racing beforehand?
The next race on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Food City 500, which is set to take place at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 12. Busch is an eight-time winner on Bristol's concrete surface. Fox Sports 1 is set to provide live coverage from the "Last Great Colosseum" beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET, so begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!