Ahead of the first elimination race in Bristol, Richard Childress Racing announced that the team has swapped the pit crews for Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon in a bid to boost the #8 car’s playoff chances. Busch, who enters the race placed fifth in the playoff standings and 24 points above the cut line, needs all the help he can in the quest for his third Cup Series title, and Dillon’s crew might just give that added push.
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But is it a good decision to shuffle a team that has been together for this long in the season? This is where Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. might have different opinions. After the pit crew lineups for JGR’s Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs were swapped, Earnhardt expressed how it could be awkward for the drivers to adjust themselves in the new setup.
Kyle Busch feels the pit crew swap decision is for the best
At the media interaction at Bristol, Busch said that he did make a suggestion about the swap to improve the team’s chances of going ahead in the playoffs.
“I feel like if you could go with an eight, nine pit crew to a nine, ten pit crew, you’re going to take it right now. You have to. Whether it’s speed or consistency or both – in our case, I think it was both – if there’s an improvement you can make, you’ve got to make it right now.”
Clearly, the former Joe Gibbs Racing driver feels that the change is for the best, and if it has to be done, it is the perfect time to make that change. This comes just days after his former team announced the decision to make a similar swap between Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs, with the former looking to make a deep run in the playoffs, and the latter out of contention.
Interestingly, Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not a big fan of the move, something he spoke about in detail on his podcast.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks it is tough to change a setup at this stage of the season
Expressing that it could be counterproductive for teams to shuffle an entire setup after 20-25 races in the season, Earnhardt felt sorry for the driver, given that making a change at this point could be “awkward and weird” for the driver involved.
“Christopher Bell, he’s like, okay they’re making a change. Maybe he likes his guys, maybe he’s like ‘I like my guys, I don’t want this other crew’. But you know, it’s not his choice and he has to start building this new relationship with this #54 team that was with Ty Gibbs all year and he’s got 10 races and playoff pressure and all those things.”
As for his chances at Bristol, the race is the best chance for Busch to gain some momentum heading into the next round, considering he is the active driver with the most wins here with eight.
