While Austin Dillon has not lost his desire to win, he wants to see his teammate, Kyle Busch, win sooner. Busch lost his crew chief, Randall Burnett, earlier this week when Burnett announced he’d be leaving Richard Childress Racing at season’s end to become crew chief at Trackhouse Racing for Connor Zilisch’s promotion to a full-time NASCAR Cup ride in 2026.
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Burnett will remain with RCR through the remaining five races of the season as an adviser, being replaced on an interim basis (for now) by Andy Street, who has had success as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series. During his media availability session on Saturday at the Charlotte Roval, Dillon gave full backing to his teammate.
“I think the main focus for RCR is to get Kyle Busch, a two-time champion, back to the winner’s circle in any way possible,” Dillon said, “to make him happy and to make the rest of the organization happy, and to go fast because that’s what we want in the end.
“We all want to go fast and win races, and that’s where we think we should be. So, we’ve got to make the best hire for both, for whatever Kyle needs and RCR needs for from a competition standpoint to be competitive each and every weekend with the No. 3 [Dillon’s car] and the No. 8 [Busch].”
Busch, who turned 40 in May, is in his 21st full-time season racing in the Cup Series. While he’s won 63 Cup races, he’s mired in the worst winless slump of his career: he comes into Charlotte not having visited victory lane in his last 88 races.
“It’s funny, you go through a little bit and everyone feels like you forget how to drive, and that’s not the case,” Dillon added. “I mean, Kyle’s Kyle Busch, he’s always going to be one of the best to ever do it. We’ve just got to give him the best shot at doing it on Sundays.”
Could 2026 be the final season for both Busch and Dillon?
Compounding issues with Busch is that Dillon may have won just once this year, but he was quickly eliminated in the opening playoff Round of 16. With young drivers Jesse Love and Austin Hill in the RCR system, there’s a strong possibility that they will both replace Busch and Dillon by 2027.
In a sense, Dillon gave somewhat of an impression that he may soon see his own racing career conclude, with speculation he may potentially take over for aging grandfather and NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner, Richard Childress, who is now 80 years old.
“I think my grandfather does a good job of trying to take my input and the group of leadership that he has there to make the best decisions,” Dillon said when asked if Childress listens to Dillon for advice. He has been building his own empire of sorts, including owning a professional bull riding team in North Carolina, a possible precursor to the end of his racing career.
