Even as the 2026 NASCAR season began, the fate of the #8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was unclear. With Kyle Busch’s future at RCR and in NASCAR the biggest question mark in the sport, it would be Kyle’s decision that would decide how this year’s silly season would play out.
Would he have remained behind the wheel of the #8 car? Would he have, as I suggested in a recent installment of Track Talk, headed back to Hendrick Motorsport to take over the #48? Would he have left Cup behind completely to compete in the Craftsman Truck Series, either for Spire Motorsports or a resurrected Kyle Busch Motorsports? Tragically, we’ll probably never know what Kyle’s decision would have been.
While not quick enough for the online critics, Richard Childress Racing retired the #8 and rebranded their second Cup car as the #33, placing Austin Hill behind the wheel for the remainder of the season. But while that answers the question of what RCR will do going forward this year, the team’s plans for 2027 are apparently still up in the air.
I have to be honest, I assumed that Hill would leave the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series behind in 2027 and go full-time Cup racing. There is also a brand of thought that would say that full-time ride should go to 2025 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Champion Jesse Love.
With all due respect to Love, he’s never struck me as an RCR-lifer. I don’t mean this as a knock against Love or his personality. He’s never given me “I could do so much better than this equipment” vibes but he raced for Joe Gibbs Racing in the ARCA Series and I see him back with JGR or perhaps Penske Racing some day. If Austin Cindric’s father was still on the outs with Penske, I’d assume that Austin would be out and Jesse Love might be in with the #2 Ford ride.
(I hope I’m wrong. Honestly, if Austin Dillon was to announce that he was retiring from full-time racing to take a larger role in RCR operations and the #3 car freed up, it’d be great to see Hill AND Love at the Cup level at Childress.)
Austin Hill, meanwhile, looks like the epitome of Richard Childress Racing. He looks blue collar, grit under the fingernails, b@lls to the walls, and not afraid of ruffling feathers. One might assume that I’m saying that Austin Hill is the next Dale Earnhardt. Instead, I’ll suggest he might be to 2026 and 2027 what Kevin Harvick was to 2001, a young driver forced to step into a ride under the worst possible circumstances and help carry the company banner as it attempts to recover from tragedy. Whether Hill gets his 2001 Cracker Barrel 500 moment or not is something we’ll have to tune in to find out.
While the discussion of who was driving the #33 car in 2027 seemed to come down to Hill and Love, this past week another name popped up on the radar.
Noah Gragson.
The story behind this development is that Front Row Motorsports’ results in 2026 resembles what a team that brought a lawsuit against NASCAR should look like. Despite his success in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and his prior experience at Stewart-Haas Racing, Gragson’s Cup career hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire. Rumours abound that he might be out at Front Row Motorsports at year’s end.
Bringing with him sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops, Gragson would be a perfect fit for RCR, which has long had ties to Bass Pro Shops as well. At the same time, Gragson would fit into the Childress environment for the same reason Hill would seem to. While Hill seems like a no nonsense-type of driver, Gragson would have the same aggressive driving style (a staple at RCR through the years) but would also have a colourful personality that might help increase RCR’s presence in the media.
Rumours of “Gragson to RCR” are nothing new. With the demise of Stewart-Haas Racing a couple of years ago, there was talk that Gragson would be brought into the RCR camp at that point.
As a fan of RCR (in case you couldn’t tell from previous installments) and as a fan of Gragson since his days at JR Motorsports, I would love to see the two sides come together. However, if Gragson stays on at Front Row, having Austin Hill in the #33 car might be just the fix that RCR has been looking for.
While I don’t agree with the whole “RCR has crap equipment” narrative that plays out on social media, I would suggest that, even back in the Earnhardt days, Childress never had equipment equal to Hendrick or Rousch. It took a special driver to get the most out of what they had and take it to the front.
Earnhardt was that special driver. Harvick was that driver. Busch, for the first year, seemed to be that driver. I think Hill could be that special driver. I think coming up through the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with RCR, he has taken what the team can provide and become a force in the series.
Yes, he excels on the drafting tracks. (SVG only wins at the road courses and yet he’s treated like a god every time they go to one. Otherwise, they get excited if he finishes in the Top 10 at an oval.) Yes, he’s ruffled feathers, mostly by trading paint with Joe Gibb’s attempt to win another owner’s championship. However, he might just be the driver that RCR needs to at least be a part of the championship discussion. (I’m not suggesting that you should expect Hill to take home the 2027 Cup Series Championship trophy, mind you.)
If RCR can sign Gragson away from Front Row, they might have the same style of driver as they would in Hill, but Gragson would also have additional experience at the Cup level. His resume isn’t spectacular but maybe he just needs the right ride. Maybe jumping into a ride with the legendary RCR team will be what he needs.
It would be doubtful that RCR would go to a third Cup car. (RFK Racing will be racing three entries in 2027 even though they only have two charters, so there is precedence for a similar move for RCR.) As much as it would be awesome to see BOTH Hill and Gragson in an RCR Cup car next year, I believe it’s going to have to be one or the other.
There are certainly pros and cons to either driver being at the helm of the #33 Chevrolet in 2027. I’ve heard talk of Hill being an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series lifer, the same way Justin Allgaier has become. Could Hill be satisfied with that? It’s certainly not a role that Gragson would agree to.
Gragson to the #33 would certainly be an exciting possibility but RCR could do worse than if Gragson remains at FRM or goes elsewhere and Hill continues in the ride. While the decision for who drives the second RCR Cup car comes under the most tragic circumstances, it is one that must be made as the team moves forward. The outcome and the results of the decision will be seen over the course of the 2027 season.
johnmilner.ca 