Jim Pohlman is out and Andy Street is in as crew chief for Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series, Richard Childress Racing announced Monday.
WELCOME, N.C. — Jim Pohlman is out and Andy Street is in as crew chief for Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series, Richard Childress Racing announced Monday.
Street will take over as Busch's crew chief for the rest of the 2026 season. Pohlman will transition into a leadership role within RCR’s competition department.
“This move is about putting our people in the best position to succeed,” said Richard Childress. “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.”
RCR billed the move as a means of continuing to focus on improving on-track performance and delivering "stronger, more consistent" results.
“We strongly believe in the people we have,” team president Mike Verlander said. “At the same time, we expect better results and that requires us to continually evaluate and make adjustments. Jim has more than two decades of success in this sport and will remain an important part of our team. We believe Andy and Kyle’s previous working relationship positions us to improve the No. 8 team and compete at a higher level.”
RCR named Street as performance director this year. The organization touted him for bringing more than 20 years of experience with them across multiple roles, including as a race-winning crew chief.
Street will start as Busch's crew chief immediately, beginning Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Pohlman came to Busch's No. 8 team after having success in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series with Justin Allgaier that saw them claim the 2025 title. However, the NOAPS championship crew chief was set up for a very tough task in 2026, with just 20 recorded Cup starts as a crew chief and Busch ending the 2025 season on a puckeringly sour note.
This season under Pohlman, Busch is off to by far the worst start of his 22-season Cup career. They sit 27th in the points standings, even after a 10th-place finish this past Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. It was his and RCR's first top-10 finish of the season, ending an historic skid for both the legendary driver and legendary organization.
Teammate Austin Dillon hasn't fared much better. Although he gained a position in the standings after Talladega, he still sits 24th, just three points ahead of Busch.
Below the Chase cutline, Dillon and Busch are 63 and 66 points back, respectively. There are 16 races until the Chase begins.