Editor’s Note: Preview of Today’s Richard Childress Racing continue NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the 2025 Cup Series season.
RICHARD CHILDREN’S RACES
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: ECR engines
Driver-team leader duo: Austin Dillon-Richard Boswell (No. 3), Kyle Busch-Randall Burnett (No. 8)
Team Outlook: Certainly, the championship organization expects an improved 2025 campaign. Although Dillon won a race at Richmond Raceway last year he was penalized for aggressive driving at the finish and ineligibility for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Meanwhile, two-time series champion Busch suffered his first full-time winless season – his first since 2004, when he competed in just six races. Dillon will team with a new crew chief in Boswell, and Busch will begin his third season at RCR with veteran Burnett. NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contender Austin Hill will also make several starts this season – hoping to help strengthen the team as a whole. Busch won three races in his first season with the RCR team in 2023 and last year he posted back-to-back season-best finishes at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway in mid-summer, in the weeks immediately following Dillon’s triumph at Richmond. The Next Gen car is now firmly established – as opposed to a variable to be resolved – leading to greater parity on the grid as teams challenge Team Penske’s dominance that has resulted in the last three NASCAR Cup Series titles.
RELATED: Busch mulls drought after 2024
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3CHEVROLET
Experience: 11 full seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series
Statistics 2024: 32nd in the final Cup Series standings; 1 win, 1 top five, 5 top 10
2025 Championship Odds (DraftKings): 150-1
Outlook: The 34-year-old has five career NASCAR Cup Series victories, including trophies in the sport’s biggest races, from the Daytona 500 (2018) to the Coca-Cola 600 (2017). There’s no doubt he knows how to win and improve his game. And with over a decade at the elite level of NASCAR, the 2013 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion would like to prove he’s a more consistent threat to the title . His 32nd place in the final 2024 rankings is the lowest of his career. Dillon’s famous No. 3 RCR Chevrolet will have a new crew chief in 2025 in Boswell, Dillon’s fifth crew chief in just the last three years. The team hopes that this new duo will bear fruit. Boswell last worked at Stewart-Haas Racing, leading Chase Briscoe to a decisive victory in the 2024 regular season finale at Darlington Raceway. Last season, Dillon led his most laps (36) since 2020 and earned his third victory in the last five years. He has qualified for the playoffs five times.
MORE: 2025 Cup Series Schedule
KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8CHEVROLET
Experience: 20 complete seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series
Statistics 2024: 20th in the final Cup Series standings; 0 wins, 5 top 5s, 10 top 10s
2025 Championship Odds (DraftKings): 22-1
Outlook: The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (2015, 2019) is absolutely ready to return to form after a frustrating 2024 season, which marked the first time in his 20-year full-time career that he didn’t win a race. Even more confusing, this came a year after he won three races in his debut 2023 season for the RCR team. Busch had two season-best runner-up finishes before last year’s playoffs, but managed just one top 10 (7th, Atlanta) in this final 10-race championship portion of the schedule. Busch, who turns 40 in May, would like nothing more than to hit a restart button and start the year with a victory in the only major race he has yet to win – the Daytona season-opening 500, where he is a preseason favorite to win. It’s a win he’s still chasing, even though he already has 63 series wins in his career, ninth all-time and the highest win total of any current full-time driver . Expectations are high for the 2025 season from Busch, his team and others. He enters the season ranked 10th among DraftKings drivers hoping to challenge for the 2025 title.
BOLD PREDICTION: It’s not normally “bold” to predict that Kyle Busch is in championship form, but the 39-year-old two-time champion has essentially endured the most grueling season of his nearly 20 career in 2024. He’s tired of answering to questions about when he might retire and more eager to get his No. 8 RCR team back on track and answer questions about competing for a title. Dillon will also have a statistically improved 2025, and a new crew chief could be exactly what energizes the No. 3 team.
