Richard Childress Racing (RCR) announced that Andy Street will replace Jim Pohlman as crew chief of Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series.
After an impressive pole at the Daytona 500, nothing has gone right for the team. Both Busch and RCR have experienced a career-low start to a season, with the 40-year old finally scoring the organization’s first top-10 finish of the year at Talladega Superspeedway.
While Pohlman will assume a leadership role within RCR’s competition department, the organization hopes these key personnel adjustments will give the team a much needed push for success.
“We strongly believe in the people we have,” said Mike Verlander, President of RCR. “At the same time, we expect better results, and that requires us to continually evaluate and make adjustments. Jim has more than two decades of success in this sport and will remain an important part of our team. We believe Andy and Kyle’s previous working relationship positions us to improve the No. 8 team and compete at a higher level.”
This is not Street’s first time serving as Busch’s crew chief, nor is it his first time jumping in mid-season. Street was also the Las Vegas native’s crew chief for the final five races of the 2025 season. In those five races, Busch earned a top-10 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a top-5 (his only top-5 on a non-drafting oval since the 2024 Southern 500) in the finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Looking ahead, Busch is 66 points out of The Chase with 16 races to go in the regular season. A spot in the championship fight remains a long shot, but if the No. 8 team can put races like Las Vegas and Phoenix together, Busch can end a two-year playoff drought. But what is likely more important to the entire No. 8 team is breaking Busch’s career long 102-race winless streak.
Written By: Kevin Modeszto
