Kyle Busch crew chief Randall Burnett explains No. 8 team, RCR's mindset with NASCAR playoffs approaching

When it comes to the playoff hopes of Kyle Busch, things are looking dire. At this point, the No. 8 team is in a must-win situation. Crew chief Randall Burnett has been around NASCAR long enough to understand the situation his team is in.

Kyle Busch has had more bad luck than most drivers this season. He has also had issues with his pit crew, mechanical gremlins, and getting caught up in the most random wrecks. Right now, the 8 team is 104 points outside of the playoff cutline.

Crew chief Randall Burnett is doing all he can to get this car going again. It hasn’t been easy. Now with seven regular-season races to go, Busch and Burnett know the deal. Win or bust.

“I think it’s going to be hard you’re going to have a lot of things go your way to make up those 104 points, you know what I mean?” Burnett said of Kyle Busch’s chances on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “That’s a lot of points in a short amount of time to make up on not just one car but several cars in between you, and also having the risk of somebody else winning a race that’s outside of that playoff bubble already.

“I think we’ve got some good tracks coming up. Chicago is going to be a crapshoot for sure. You never know what you’re going to get there. I think Pocono and Indy are really strong tracks for Kyle and we’ve been really fast with the 8 car there the last couple of years, or at least at Pocono we’re pretty good. Indy will be a new one with going back to the oval with this car will be a new deal for everybody.

“We were fortunate enough to do the tire test up there so I feel like we’ve got a good starting point there. We’ve got a lot of races to look forward to coming up. Michigan we were really strong, Daytona, Darlington. So, I think there’s plenty of opportunities for this 8 Zone Chevy to get into the playoffs. We just gotta execute and make sure we don’t have any mistakes and put some fast cars out there for Kyle [Busch] to get the job done with.”

Kyle Busch has had four DNFs in the last five races. At this point, it feels like he has hit rock bottom. So, is it possible for RCR to give him the cars he needs to go out and win?

This season has been one misstep after another for Busch and his team. While they have had flashes of speed, the consistency has not been there whatsoever. In fact, the only consistency they have had this season had been all of the DNFs in recent weeks.

Busch is a two-time champion, one of the winningest drivers of all-time in the Cup Series. If he can’t get a win this season, what does that say about the state of the RCR Cup program?