Kyle Busch’s 2026 season hasn’t just been quiet. It’s been hard to ignore.
Not because he’s winning. Because he isn’t.
Through the early stretch of the NASCAR Cup Series season, the two-time champion has looked out of sync, stuck in the middle of the field, and searching for something that used to come naturally. And after Darlington, Denny Hamlin said exactly that.
“I think he’s searching right now,” Hamlin said of Kyle Busch on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “It’s just my opinion, but he’s just trying to figure something out.”
That’s not just a throwaway comment. Coming from Hamlin, it’s a read on where Busch actually is right now.
And it’s not where a driver like him is supposed to be.
A slump that keeps getting harder to explain
Busch hasn’t won since June 2023. That drought is now approaching 100 races, a number that would have been unthinkable during the peak of his career.
At Darlington, there was no breakthrough. No late charge. No sign that things are about to flip.
Instead, it looked familiar with Busch finishing the day 21st.
Mid-pack speed. Limited track position. A car that isn’t bad enough to write off, but nowhere near good enough to contend. It’s the kind of performance that keeps a driver stuck, and that’s exactly where Busch has been.
Hamlin didn’t just point at results. He pointed at the bigger picture inside Richard Childress Racing.
“They’re not race-winning teams right now,” Hamlin said. “They don’t have that pace, but they don’t have 30th-place pace. That’s something that driver and team has a role in.”
That middle ground is the problem. RCR isn’t completely off. But it’s not close.
And for Busch, that gap is everything.
Hamlin puts pressure back on Busch
It would be easy to frame this entirely as a team issue. RCR hasn’t consistently matched the speed of the sport’s top organizations, and the Next Gen era hasn’t been kind to everyone.
But Hamlin didn’t go there. “If Kyle is as great like we all believe he is, then he should be eighth,” he said.
That’s the line that stands out. It’s not dismissing Busch’s talent. It’s challenging it.
Because at this stage of his career, Busch isn’t judged by effort or flashes. He’s judged by results. And right now, those results aren’t matching the standard he built.
There are more corrections mid-race. More time spent adjusting instead of attacking. Fewer moments where Busch is dictating the pace of a race.
For one of the most instinctive drivers of his generation, that shift is noticeable.
Darlington exposed the same issues again
Darlington Raceway doesn’t hide anything.
It rewards control, rhythm, and confidence. It punishes hesitation. The best drivers tend to find their way forward there, even when their cars aren’t perfect. Busch didn’t.
While others managed the race and moved toward the front, the No. 8 stayed buried in traffic. Another race where nothing went completely wrong, but nothing went right either. And that’s becoming the story.
RCR teammate Austin Dillon has shown occasional signs of life, but not enough to shift the overall picture. The organization is hovering, not competing.
Which leaves Busch in a spot that feels unfamiliar. Relevant, but not a factor.
This is where the pressure starts to build
Busch didn’t come to RCR to run 12th. He came to win, and early on, it looked like that move could reset the trajectory of his career. Now, that momentum is gone.
The questions are getting louder. The results aren’t changing. And the timeline matters. Busch is 40, and extended slumps at this stage don’t get ignored, they get analyzed.
Hamlin’s word choice stuck for a reason.
Searching. Searching for speed. Searching for balance. Searching for a version of himself that used to show up every week.
There’s still time for Busch to flip the season. He’s done it before. But right now, the gap between who he’s been and what he’s producing is hard to ignore.
And in NASCAR, that gap doesn’t stay quiet for long.
Denny Hamlin Sounds Off on Kyle Busch, RCR Struggles: ‘He’s Searching’