With solely 5 races left within the 2025 NASCAR Cup Sequence season, Richard Childress Racing has made a shocking personnel change.
Randall Burnett, who has served because the crew chief for RCR’s No. 8 crew since 2020, will not be on the pit field for driver Kyle Busch during the last 4 races of 2025, starting with Sunday’s (Oct. 5) Financial institution of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Andy Avenue will step in and function the shot-caller for Busch and the No. 8 crew during the last 5 weeks of 2025, whereas Burnett will probably be in a assist position with RCR for the rest of 2025.
Why is this variation occurring?
Burnett would be the crew chief for younger phenom Connor Zilisch at Trackhouse Racing in 2026. It isn’t but identified who Busch’s crew chief will probably be for 2026, however the subsequent 5 weeks permit Avenue to audition for the full-time position.
Burnett has labored with Busch because the latter started his RCR tenure in 2023. After successful three races and incomes a playoff berth in 2023, Busch and Burnett have struggled to seek out success during the last two years. 2024 was the primary winless season of Busch’s profession, and if he cannot discover Victory Lane over the following 5 weeks, he’ll have suffered by way of two consecutive winless seasons.
Busch has additionally missed the playoffs in consecutive years (2024-25) for the primary time in his Cup Sequence profession. He completed nineteenth within the Sept. 28 race at Kansas Speedway. By way of 31 of 36 races this season, Busch is twenty first within the Cup Sequence standings. Ought to he end twenty first or worse within the last factors standings, it will be the worst factors end of his Cup Sequence profession.
