Dale Earnhardt Jr. Points to Karma Catching Kyle Busch as RCR Struggles Continue to Mount

Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kyle Busch

The comments from Busch, which Earnhardt mentioned, came in 2009 in the middle of the 2009 season, which was one of Dale Jr.’s most difficult at that point. The 2009 season was so bad for Junior that his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., was shown the exit door in May, and in his place, Lance McGrew was brought in.

But things continued to stay bad for the #88 driver as McGrew’s pit calls and car setups often led to rants from Earnhardt over the radio, not to mention bad results. In 2009, he had a couple of top 5 finishes and three top 10s.

In May of that year, as Earnhardt was struggling with a string of bad results, a new crew chief, and mounting expectations from fans, Busch claimed, “If [Earnhardt] doesn’t run well, then he’s (crew chief) going to be the problem again. It’s never Junior, it’s always the crew chief.”

But then, Busch’s comments didn’t come without context. After all, it was right after the 2008 period when the feud between the two drivers also began.

However, years later, the two drivers have settled their differences. Earnhardt now hopes his former rival can figure out his woes. And one way the former HMS driver believes that could happen could be through a sensational move away from Richard Childress’ team as early as next summer.

Earnhardt Jr. makes major prediction for Busch’s future away from RCR

Speaking on his podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed ‘a weird feeling’ regarding Kyle Busch ending up at Spire Motorsports sooner than later. “They would probably absolutely take him. I could see him getting over there. I believe it happens, and it could be next year. He’s not got a long-term deal at RCR that I know of. That is the story moving forward. And I believe that’s what happens in the summer,” Earnhardt claimed.

He mentioned that before his days in NASCAR are done, Kyle Busch would get in a competitive car once again and prove that he’s still the guy who has all the major records and wins to his name.

Moreover, Dale Jr. claimed that Spire is also a team that could satisfy Busch’s financial demands. Currently, he’s the highest-paid driver in Cup with a reported salary of close to $16M. Earnhardt believed Spire is the place Busch could land the contract he’s looking for, along with having a relatively fast car.

After all, Spire has already had four top 5s and three top 10s between the #7, the #71, and the #77 car this season. Earnhardt believed going to Spire would give Busch the opportunities to win again while also being able to race in the Truck Series as well.

So it’ll be interesting to see if Dale Jr.’s prediction about Busch’s future comes true this summer. Either way, it is clear that, unlike Kyle Busch, Dale Jr. is being quite graceful about handling the #8 driver’s ongoing rough phase, something Busch didn’t do back in 2009 for Earnhardt Jr.