Kyle Busch opens up about pit crew change ahead of Atlanta: ‘It’s tough out there’

Going back to last season, Kyle Busch has had issues on pit stops. After one race this season, his RCR team replaced the jackman. Josh Sobecki is out and Garrett Crall is going to fill in this NASCAR Sunday.

For those thinking this was a one-and-done decision, it wasn’t. Sobecki was with the team last season. It was just obvious at this point that a swap needed to be made.

Before taking the track in the Cup Series this weekend, Kyle Busch talked to the media about the change. It isn’t necessarily a decision Busch made, but one that Richard Childress insisted upon.

“Well, the jackman we had was the same jackman we had all of last year,” Busch said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “So we were trying to redo a few positions over the offseason and some of the talent we were scouting and talking to and giving offers to they declined them and went somewhere else. We kind of had what we had and we’ve been working through that.

“It’s tough out there. It’s really hard to recruit and get guys, especially where RCR is based and where they’re at it’s a long row to hoe to get up to Welcome to do pit stop practice, sometimes three, four times a week whatever it might be. I know Ray and all the guys in the pit crew department are working super hard.

“Trust me, they’ve heard it not from me but from Richard week in and week out. So, their ears are bleeding, but I know they’re trying and I know we’re working hard. Trust me there were plenty of offers over the offseason to try and get different talent up there and we just weren’t able to secure it.”

Kyle Busch has one checkered flag this weekend

Of course, on Saturday afternoon, Kyle Busch went out and won the Fr8 208 Truck Series race. He had a great No. 7 Group 1001 Spire Motorsports truck. After all, it is one of his old KBM trucks.

Spire was solid all day, Nick Sanchez had some early speed. Rajah Caruth was able to drive back into the top-10 after having issues on pit road. Chase Purdy had his own issues but finished P15.

However, it was Kyle Busch who was the best driver and had the best truck all day. When he wasn’t leading, he was biding his time not far behind. He went on to win Stage 2 of the race and eventually, took the checkered flag.

Rowdy is the master of the Truck Series, the Master Craftsman if you will. 65 wins and counting, Busch extends his wins record in the series. Don’t forget, he has four more races on his schedule with Spire this season. He could get up to 69 wins by the end of 2024.