Despite Kyle Busch‘s winless streak since June 2023, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic has predicted that he “still could win a race.” However, he stressed that the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion may not make it to the playoffs this year.

Busch finished several races this season in the top ten positions, and his strong performance at the Circuit of the Americas meant he was well-placed to win the race but ended up securing fifth.

However, Busch is now placed right below the Cup Series playoff cut line in terms of points, prompting Bianchi to comment on his chances of winning a race and making it into the playoffs. He said on The Teardown podcast after the Homestead-Miami race:

“I think Kyle Busch still could win a race. We saw it at COTA for goodness sake. Like he was in position to win the race. I don’t think he can point his way into the playoffs. I don’t think as an organization. We’re going to get guys who win races and that line’s going to move up.”

Bianchi also pointed to Richard Childress Racing’s cars, suggesting that they aren’t fast enough to help Busch perform consistently. He added:

“I don’t think consistently RCR is going to have good enough cars. Because going into this weekend, and I wish I’d looked this up, and I apologize for not, but he was asked in his bullpen session on Saturday about his chances, because drivers with the last name ‘B’ have won all the races. And the narrative was like can you do this, Kyle? ‘No.’ He was very blunt. ‘It’s not happening this weekend. We just are not in the ballpark at all.’ He was not wrong.”

“RCR is not Joe Gibbs. They’re not a Hendrick. They’re not week in and week out, regardless of the racetrack you know they’re going to be good. That’s not who RCR is right now. And so I don’t feel like they can point their way in. But Kyle is still a good enough driver to figure out a way to win a race. He almost did it at Darlington last year. He almost did it at Atlanta. And they need to focus on that. They need to get speed into the racecars. If you give Kyle Busch a fast racecar I think he can go do something with it.”

Bianchi concluded it would be too difficult for Busch and RCR to get out of the “points hole.” He said:

“So am I concerned? No, but I don’t want to put myself in a points hole too much and lose too many points on a race like this or Vegas. Have an issue like Vegas where it’s like we’re throwing points away because I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that it would be nice if we can’t win a race we can maybe still get to the playoffs on points. Because I don’t think they’re good enough to climb out of that points hole.”

On Sunday’s Cup Series race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch secured P21.