NASCAR star Kyle Busch admits 'something had to change' after shock crew chief exit

NASCAR star Kyle Busch has admitted that the time was right to make a change after Richard Childress Racing announced a crew chief change on the No. 8 team.

The move was made ahead of this weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway, with Jim Pohlman, who only took over the role at the start of the season, being replaced by Andy Street on top of the pit box.

Pohlman will now transition into a leadership position at RCR, while Street will take over for this weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway until the end of the season.

"This move is about putting our people in the best position to succeed,” said Richard Childress, Chairman and CEO of RCR. “We have strong talent across this organization, and we’re focused on having each person in the right position to help deliver the results we expect.”

Kyle Busch on surprise crew chief change

Given that Pohlman has only held the role for 10 races, the announcement came as somewhat of a shock this week.

However, after a rough start to the year, Busch says that the writing was on the wall and something needed to change.

“I think the writing is in the points standings,” Busch said post-race at Texas on Friday after finishing second in the Truck Series, via NASCAR.com.

“We’re not where we need to be. There’s got to be a change somewhere.

From my understanding, I feel like the conversation with Jim was well received and he was fine with it.”

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Busch all in at RCR

Busch also took the time to reiterate his commitment to making things work at Richard Childress Racing when speaking on Friday night. The two-time champion held a team meeting this week in which he emphasized that to the team's staff, and that message was reiterated to the media.

“I’m full in. I’m all committed," Busch explained. I’ve never probably worked as much in these last four years as I did in 15 at JGR.

"That’s due to us needing to get better and us getting the things heading in the right direction.

“We’ve got to put the train back on the tracks and have a direction of what we need to do in order to be able to go forward.

"Just reiterating all of that [in the meeting] and giving them the vote of confidence that we’re all in this together and we’re digging in.”

Next Busch win will be 'biggest of his career'

Discussing the very same meeting, Busch's teammate Austin Dillon shared his thoughts with the media on Friday, and claimed that Busch's next victory would be the biggest of his entire career.

“I think just that he's all in. He wants to get back," Dillon explained. "I talked to Kyle, and his next win is going to be the biggest of his career, if you think of it the right way.

"All the stuff that has been said and brought up over this year, I feel like if he puts his head down and takes that team back to victory lane, that's going to be the biggest win of his career.

"So, that's what we're all fighting for. We want to see that. As a competitor, that's what I'd like to see.”