Heading into Phoenix, for the third time in the last four races, Kyle Busch will have a new pit crew. One would think that staying consistent with a set group of people would get them to work better together over time, but there’s the curious case of the #8 team. So why is that? Why is Richard Childress Racing making all these rapid changes to Busch’s pit crew almost every week? And how does Busch feel about this?
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All of these answers can perhaps be found in what Kyle Busch said in a media interaction on Friday in Phoenix. He said of his pit crew change, “Well, I feel like you gotta keep getting the best guys you can get in there and change positions as you need to change. But honestly, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, you’re gonna run out of players. The depth chart is not very deep for guys on the pit road that are the excel group.”
“I feel like there’s an A group of people, there’s a B group, and there’s a C group, just like the drivers, there’s an A group, there’s a B group, and there’s a C group.”
Busch argued that it’s hard to get the very top pit crew members, those in the A group because they’re generally under contract. “So you’re kind of just, you’re basically playing with what’s it in football? The practice squad,” he continued.
“You’re putting guys from the practice squad to see what you can find and hopefully you hit one.”
Kyle Busch has three new crew members who are RCR employees who work on RCR crews leased to other Xfinity teams. He says it is like elevating players from the practice squad. pic.twitter.com/VuxDn31uA3
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 9, 2024
This was what Kyle Busch had to say about the rapid pit crew changes to his team. But what about Richard Childress Racing?
What is their explanation behind it?
Andy Petree on why they’re changing the pit crew members of Kyle Busch so often
Andy Petree, the executive vice president at RCR, recently spoke about why they’re constantly changing the pit crew members of Kyle Busch almost every week. He said as per NBC Sports, “We just need a consistent crew that is not going to be making mistakes.”
“One of the problems with these young guys and development guys is you put them on Kyle’s car and he’s running second, they’re trying to win. I’m not sure they’re mentally ready for it.”
Petree then made a claim that was more or less on the same lines as Kyle Busch’s football analogy regarding this subject, as he said that by making all these changes, they’re trying to find a group of people who can handle pressure and deliver “a solid performance,” instead of a stellar one.
He emphasized that at this point, they’re not even looking for stellar, they just want solid, consistent performances from their pit crew members.
