Richard Childress has desperate message on Kyle Busch’s radio: ‘We are in trouble’

Richard Childress Racing isn't what it once was.

This is a statement you truly could've been saying for decades now and been correct each time. The former home of Dale Earnhardt hasn't won a Cup title since The Intimidator's last championship in 1994.

They had prime years of Kevin Harvick, but the best they could do for the No. 29 was third, three times. Then he went to Stewart-Haas and he won his first and only championship in his first try.

Since then, the team has won just 12 times in 11.5 years, and faced horrifying inconsistency, prominently over the last two seasons.

Has Childress reached a breaking point, even with a decent result at Dover? It certainly sounds like it.

Childress tells his team they need to improve ... 'period'

With just five races left until the playoffs, desperation might be setting in for the 79-year-old Childress.

His prized driver Kyle Busch remains 39 points out of the playoffs and has not won in nearly 80 races. His grandson and mainstay at the RCR Austin Dillon is way down in 28th in points.

After a long, rain-delayed day at Dover, Childress got on the radio for Busch's team to hear, and he was not happy.

"Gotta get some race cars. We are in trouble. Period," said Childress. He also had a similar sentiment on Dillon's radio too.

"We've got to get some damn race cars. I've seen enough out of our drivers and teams, we've got to work on this s---, period."

Both drivers netted top 15s at Dover, the first time both full-time RCR cars did that since Talladega in April. So why Childress decided to get on the radio and sound so desperate now was a bit odd.

It's a message without a lot of clear directive -- if RCR could "get some race cars" just like that, they would. What exactly he wants the team to do to be more productive is likely something that will take years to fix. But ultimately, Childress might be saying this to put the blame in his lap.

Childress' team stuck in a pit of mediocrity for over a decade

Ever since Harvick left, Childress has not been able to have sustained success for more than a moment.

In the three seasons following Harvick's departure, the team won no races with a three-car lineup of Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Dillon. Although Newman nearly won the title with no wins, but he lost out in 2014 to ... Harvick.

2017 felt like a chance to breakthrough, with Dillon grabbing his first Cup win at the Coca-Coca 600 and Newman breaking a multiyear winless streak, but both were first round playoff eliminations.

RCR went to a two-car operation in 2018 and it felt like a new dawn again: Dillon captured the Daytona 500, the team's first since Harvick in 2007. But Dillon didn't do much the rest of the year and was a first-round exit once again while Newman missed out entirely on the postseason.

2019 saw the brutally weak pairing of Dillon and Daniel Hemric finish outside of the top 20 in points. Tyler Reddick joined full-time in 2020, and clearly was a massive talent for RCR. But the promise meant he had prospects elsewhere too: after two raw seasons in 2020-21, Reddick won thrice in 2022 and promptly exited to race for 23XI after that.

As for Dillon, he won once in 2020 at Texas and then snuck into the playoffs at the buzzer with a win at Daytona in 2022. Ever since then, the flickering promise of Dillon has been completely darkened. His points finishes in 2023 & 2024 were a paltry 29th and 32nd (although with a hugely controversial win that didn't count for a playoff berth). This year he sits 28th.

Calls for Busch to skip town grow

NASCAR fans know Busch's unceremonious exit from Gibbs that landed him at RCR was a shock and a massive drop-off in terms of power he would have in his hands.

But then in Busch's first 15 races piloting the No. 8 in 2023, he won three times. Things were looking up for RCR and maybe Busch found a great situation to be in.

Busch was knocked out in the second round of the 2023 playoffs. Disappointing, but with three wins and 10 top fives, there was promise.

That promise is gone. Busch finished 2024 without a win (the first winless season for him in 20 years) and missed the playoffs. And he currently sits on the outside looking in for 2025's playoffs.

Fans who have wanted the KFB of old have been desperate for something to give the 40-year-old another shot at a title in. But Busch gave Childress his vote of confidence, signing an extension back in May.

Childress now has to "get" those "damn race cars" that he's apparently been missing for the last two seasons. The bizarre radio message has fans thinking ... isn't it up to you to have been figuring that out?