Denny Hamlin weighs in on Richard Childress’ | Sports News

The Autotrader EchoPark 400 at Dover was a race to recollect for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, because the NASCAR Cup Series title favourite claimed his fourth win of the season in the No. 11 Toyota. However, for Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Chevrolet, it was one other weekend to overlook, coming home in eleventh.

After the checkered flag fell, Busch was advised over the radio by Childress himself, “Gotta get some race cars. We are in trouble. Period.” This blunt message shortly went viral, with Hamlin the most recent to present his ideas on the Hall of Famer’s call for motion.

The JGR driver and 23XI Racing co-owner stated on his Actions Detrimental podcast that he believes Childress is “challenging his employees to come up with some different answers. He knows the parts and pieces are the same, but they’re obviously, what I believe he’s saying is that we’ve got to put them together better.”

Over the final three seasons, between Busch and teammate Austin Dillon in the No. 3, RCR has totaled simply three wins, with the final being Dillon’s win at Richmond in August 2024. 

This season, Busch has completed a high of fifth simply twice, while Dillon is but to complete increased than seventh. For a crew with 117 Cup Series wins and 6 championships, simply 10 prime 10 finishes between two drivers after 21 races will come as a bitter disappointment to all concerned.

While Hamlin identified that not being a member of RCR, he isn’t “close enough to the situation to really know” what the problem is, he did notice, “It could be simulation, it could be tons of things. Maybe they’re getting different answers in the tire department than what others are.

“I don’t know. I’m not close enough to the situation to really know, but I’m here speculating that he’s challenging everyone to, we can’t come back with the same thing. This is not working. We’re not fast enough. We need better cars. We need to give our drivers a better opportunity to win races.”

The 44-year-old admitted to liking Childress’ method, explaining that from a driver’s perspective, it’ll have felt good to know that the proprietor has their back. “If I know that I’m going into a gun fight with a knife, I want my owner to have my back, saying, ‘It ain’t our drivers,’” he defined, including that in his capability as 23XI co-owner, he has additionally beforehand referred to as out his crew publicly.

“I guess the negative could be is that you know, now you’re going to put spotlights on all those people that are making those decisions, and they could feel pressure from that,” Hamlin advised. “You know, if you can’t stand the pressure, get out of the kitchen. I just think the positives outweigh it. 

“I think when you say that, you’re having the drivers’ back. You’re letting them know that you’re not happy with what you’re bringing for them to compete in. And yet maybe there needs to be a discussion publicly. Sometimes that works best.”

Childress will hope his combating speak pays dividends on Sunday when NASCAR heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. Busch, in specific, will likely be hoping for higher tools as he continues to battle for a playoff spot with the 40-year-old 39 factors under the mark.