Days after the Talladega Superspeedway Cup Series race, Richard Childress Racing decided to replace Kyle Busch's crew chief, Jim Pohlman, and bring in Andy Street in his place. This change surprised many as RCR carried it out only a few months after appointing him to the role.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who Pohlman worked for at JR Motorsports until last year, recently shared his thoughts on the reshuffle.

"They just haven't had the results. It's been tough," Dale Jr. said in the recent Dale Jr Download podcast. "There's been a lot of radio chatter that's become public, and there's been a lot of focus on that. Radio chatter like that within teams is not uncommon. A lot of them are doing that on a weekly basis. It's just highlighted because it's Kyle Busch and he's struggling, unlike Kyle Busch."

Richard Childress Racing brought in Pohlman from JR Motorsports, where he was the crew chief for Justin Allgaier and won an Xfinity (now O'Reilly) championship together. However, after just 10 races, he was put into a different role - a leadership position in the competition department.

Dale Jr then revealed how RCR contacted him to sign Pohlman in the first place. He said:

"I got a call from Mike Dillon. They want to offer you this opportunity. I don't know if you want to take it. I don't know if that's something you want to do. He thought about it and ended up making that decision to go over there and do that now. A handful of races into the season. It's not working. Jim's an awesome, awesome guy. While Jim's probably disappointed, this didn't work out. Jim's gonna be fine."

Interestingly, Jim Pohlman had already worked at RCR before his switch to JR Motorsports. Pohlman's return to RCR was a homecoming for him, but not for long in that crew chief role. While Richard Childress' team shifted him to a different role, they said it was in the team's best interest.

RCR Boss explained why Kyle Busch's crew chief was changed

Richard Childress, the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of Richard Childress Racing, revealed why the team decided to make the change midway through the season. Street became the third crew chief for Kyle Busch in seven months.

"This move is about putting our people in the best position to succeed," Childress said in a statement. "We have strong talent across this organization, and we’re focused on having each person in the right position to help deliver the results we expect.”

So far in 2026, Kyle Busch has managed to grab only one top 10 in ten races, and this added more woes to his now-103-race winless streak. With that said, it will be interesting to see if Andy Street manages to turn things around for Kyle Busch and RCR.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yask Kotak