Dale Earnhardt Jr. addresses Kyle Busch rumors, media treatment

It’s Silly Season. And though there’s a plethora of other drivers looking for rides for 2025, that hasn’t stopped the rumors from swirling of Kyle Busch potentially looking to exit Richard Childress Racing after just two seasons with the team.

Of course, these rumors have coincided with Busch’s poor performance this season, but especially of late. After recording his second DNF of the season this past Sunday at Iowa, Busch now sits 31 points behind Bubba Wallace for the 16th and final playoff spot. He has now finished outside the top-10 in five consecutive races. Busch, after winning three races in his first 15 starts last season, is riding a 38-race losing streak, the longest of his career. He’s in jeopardy of failing to score a regular season win for the first time since 2004.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has noticed the media is “latching onto” Busch’s woes, and feels they’re trying to “push his buttons,” he said on the “Dale Jr. Download” this week.

“Kyle Busch has had some bad luck the last couple of weeks. And he’s losing some points to the cutline, and I see the media, they’re latching onto this,” Earnhardt said. “They’re gonna try to push Kyle Busch’s buttons. … Remember they asked him in the media center would he go back to Hendrick or Joe Gibbs. He was like, ‘Yeah, if they welcome me back, I’ll go back.’ … They did him wrong right there.”

Kyle Busch addresses future with RCR

As Earnhardt mentioned, Busch was asked this past weekend at Iowa if he’d ever consider going back to Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch left the door open for a future reunion, but pledged his allegiance to RCR for 2025.

“I would say anything is possible, always,” Busch said. “Certainly, if I was welcomed, I would go back, if Hendrick welcomed me back, I’d go back. But right now, I’m at RCR with my group of guys and the deal I have right now in place. So, we’re trying to work and build this program and make RCR great again.”

Earnhardt said he doesn’t believe Busch is trying to “torpedo” his relationship with RCR. He does feel there could be some tense exchanges between he and the media if the questions about his future continue.

“I don’t think he’s happy how he’s performing. But I don’t think the guy is trying to torpedo his relationship [with RCR]. I don’t think he’s trying to get himself fired,” Earnhardt said. “But the media is gonna pick up and they’re starting already to pick up on, ‘Hey man, we’ve got nine races to go, can he do it? Eight races to go, seven races to go, six races to go.’ And these things are not things Kyle Busch loves to be in the middle of. Every week, they’re probably going to be trying to ping him in the media a little bit about, ‘How’s he feeling this week? And what do you think about this week?’ And he is going to have a hard time keeping his comments clean so there’s no collateral damage.”