Kyle Busch, Austin Dillion swapping pit crews for Bristol

Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing are looking for every advantage they can gain in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

While Busch is currently P7 in the Playoffs, that can change in an instant at Bristol Motor Speedway, the final race before the Round of 12. Busch has captured multiple wins in 2023, but his No. 8 Chevrolet has been inconsistent throughout the season.

With teammate Austin Dillon on the outside looking in of the playoffs, RCR has opted to maneuver their pit crew talent around, swapping over-the-wall personnel on Dillon and Busch’s respective teams.

“Over-the-wall pit crew swap for Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch starting this weekend at Bristol with Busch in the playoffs,” tweeted Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “Tire changers, carrier and jack swap. Fueler remains the same.”

While Dillon isn’t in the playoffs, he’s still racing for position throughout the next couple of months. However, the focus will obviously be on Busch and the No. 8 team moving forward, and rightfully so, thus the pit crew swap for RCR.

Time will tell if it makes a difference, and if Kyle Busch is able to find the speed he had earlier in the season. It’s been a struggle for the No. 8 team over the last couple of months, but anything can happen in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Kyle Petty breaks down trouble for NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers at Kansas

Meanwhile, Kyle Petty watched in amazement as Kansas caused a stir in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs on Sunday afternoon.

From Martin Truex Jr. to Bubba Wallace, some of the top drivers in the sport had immense trouble at the track. As we’ve learned since NASCAR implemented this system for the Playoffs, one bad race could spell the end of your season, and that’s the barrel multiple drivers are staring down at the moment.

“The rest of the field, if you had a P by your name for Playoffs, it meant plenty of trouble,” Petty started. “We saw Martin Truex cut a tire early in the race. We saw Bubba Wallace look like he was going to dominate the race, cut a tire later on. We saw the No. 24, William Byron, a guy that I thought was just going to dominate the entire Playoffs, spin on the backstretch. 

“The No. 20 car of Christopher Bell, and the No. 12 car of Ryan Blaney, have trouble on pit road, and have to recover. So there’s so many things that happened to those guys.”

Even though four drivers are on the outside looking in at the moment, they’ll still have a shot at moving to the next round, with Bristol taking place over the weekend. However, Petty relented that it’s incredibly hard to gain points at the moment, and believes the writing could be on the wall.