Denny Hamlin climbs NASCAR championship odds, all-time wins list
The guys discuss Denny Hamlin’s win at Las Vegas and what it means for the NASCAR playoffs and career wins list. They also preview the Talladega race.
- Kyle Busch’s No. 8 team will have a new crew chief for the 2026 NASCAR season.
- Busch has gone 90 Cup races without a win after winning three times in his first 15 starts with RCR.
When searching for an equivalent move in sports, this might be similar to a football team bringing in a new offensive coordinator after failing to score touchdowns with any regularity. Some might suggest it’s like changing head coaches.
Whatever, for Kyle Busch, it’s not touchdowns but race wins he’d like to start collecting again, and even that’s not exactly true.
Truthfully, competing well enough to even consider challenging for a win would be a big step up for Kyle and his No. 8 Chevy team from the garage of Richard Childress Racing.
Who is RCR bringing in to help Kyle Busch?
To hopefully facilitate that improvement, the team has announced a change in crew chiefs for Kyle’s No. 8, beginning with the 2026 season. Jim Pohlman, who’s been with Justin Allgaier’s Xfinity Series team for three seasons, will sit atop the No. 8 pit box beginning next February at Daytona.
If nothing else, Pohlman brings along the fresh smell of Victory Lane champagne. In his first year with Allgaier, who drives for Dale Earnhardt Jr’s JR Motorsports, the pair made the championship race. Last year, they won the Xfinity championship, and this year, they’re among the eight teams in the ongoing Round of 8. They’ve won nine races together.
Largely in part-time duty, Kyle Busch has won 102 Xfinity Series races, but his fame was built on Cup Series wins, and he’s basically quit collecting them. In 2023, his first season with RCR, Kyle won three times in his first 15 starts, but has now gone 90 Cup races without returning to Victory Lane.
Kyle Busch finishing another NASCAR season of misery
This year, in 33 starts, he has just two top-5 finishes, with both of them being fifth-place runs on road courses.
It’s been quite a letdown for a driver who won at least one race in each of his first 19 full-time Cup seasons — there’s also the two Cup championships, a pair of eight-win seasons and 63 victories overall.
Will this personnel move be the key to fixing the No. 8 team? At times like this, the team owner always says all the right things.
What Richard Childress said about crew chief Jim Pohlman
“Everyone at Richard Childress Racing remains focused on improving performance and is committed to putting the right people in place, including on the No. 8 team,” Childress said. “Jim Pohlman is a relentless competitor in the garage and fits in well with our mission and approach at RCR.
“We know that he will do a great job leading the No. 8 team and Kyle Busch.”
Pohlman will replace interim crew chief Andy Street, who has been sitting in for former crew chief Randall Burnett, who recently left the RCR team and will be rookie Connor Zilisch’s crew chief at Trackhouse Racing next season.
