Kyle Busch won all the time until the checkered flags dried up. Can he find NASCAR success again?

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Kyle Busch’s feisty spirit surfaced late at the end of another empty Daytona 500 for the perennial race loser. The Daytona pole sitter, Busch was running outside the top 20 in the final laps when he let off the gas and faded to the back of the pack as wrecks up front started to muddle the running order. His crew chief radioed Busch and asked if he slowed because the Chevrolet was out of fuel.

Busch’s retort was blunter.

“What the (heck) am I going to rush into the wreck for,” Busch said. “We’re running (expletive) 30th.”

Busch finished 15th, another middling result as he ran the longest active Daytona 500 losing streak to 21 straight races. Whatever spark winning the pole may have provided never materialized with only 19 laps led. The optimism of racing for the first time in a points race with a new crew chief faded early, and Busch was left to chew on the fact that a Daytona 500 win remained the lone void in a career that will eventually see him join big brother Kurt in the Hall of Fame.

“If I don’t ever win it, I’m going to have to be happy with not ever winning it,” Busch said. “I’ve pretty much fulfilled my career. If it were to end yesterday, I would be happy with everything.”

Just not much of late.

At 40, Busch is reeling on a once-inconceivable, 94-race Cup Series losing streak, and he has turned in a contract year to a new crew chief at Richard Childress Racing to resuscitate his career — all while embroiled in an $8.5 million lawsuit against an insurance company — to remind everyone that he can still hang on as a championship contender.

“It’s something I never would have thought would happen," Busch said.

Through the first two decades of his career, one detail showed no signs of changing: Busch was a winner.

Take 2008, Busch’s first season with Joe Gibbs Racing. He won eight races in the Cup Series, 10 more in NASCAR’s second-tier series and, for good measure, three in the Truck Series.

“Literally, these words came out of my mouth: ‘See, it can be easy,’” Busch said with a laugh.

Busch made it look easy. He won Cup titles with Gibbs in 2015 and 2019 and romped through NASCAR’s lower two series with so much ease that rules were put in place to choke off his number of races each season.

“We were just laughing,” Busch said. “It can be easy. It’s just a matter of how well-prepared you are and how good your stuff is.”

Busch’s stuff was good enough to win 232 times — a NASCAR record — across the three national series. Busch moved to Richard Childress Racing in 2023, and he showed flashes he was the same elite racer as he was at JGR with three wins in the first 15 races of the season.

Then, the checkered flags dried up.

Busch’s career tapered off, both inexplicably because of his Hall of Fame talent, yet understandably because RCR had long receded from its spot as a championship contender in the Cup Series.

Busch admits there are days he still finds it unfathomable he won’t finish his career at JGR. After he flamed out early in his career at Hendrick Motorsports, Busch found a fit driving for the former NFL coach.

He had the best of everything in the No. 18 Toyota, fueled in large part by the financial support of longtime sponsor Mars. Even as recently as 2020, Busch believed there was a shot he could finish his career with the same seven career titles as record-holders Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.

Once Mars pulled out of the sport after 2022, Busch and JGR failed to land the timely sponsorship deal that infuses teams with the big payday largely needed to operate.

Busch was unceremoniously out as JGR made room for Joe Gibbs’ grandson, Ty.

“When I don’t have a sponsor, and they have a grandkid waiting in the wings, I’m the odd man out,” Busch said. “I wanted to stay there, finish my career there and never leave. It was the same thing at Hendrick. I got forced out there. I got forced out at Gibbs.”

Childress, who tussled with Busch in 2011 after a Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway, offered the professional lifeline needed in the No. 8 Chevrolet.

The pairing initially seemed perfect — Busch won the second race of the 2023 season at Fontana, eight races later at Talladega and five races after that at Gateway. He followed that with four straight top-10 finishes and seemingly had brought that taste of the good life with him from JGR to RCR.

Busch said in retrospect he realized wins came in large part because RCR had been ahead of the curve when NASCAR launched its Next Gen car in 2022.

“RCR was actually involved in a lot of the car’s development in the early stages with NASCAR,” Busch said. “They were one of the first teams to work on things and get ahead of it. (At JGR), we didn’t do anything. We were like, ‘Nah, we’re not going to do anything. We’ll deal with it when we get there.’”

Gibbs and Hendrick and Team Penske soon caught up — and surpassed — Busch and RCR. Even 23XI Racing sped ahead after winning the Daytona 500 with Tyler Reddick.

“The RCR gang, for whatever they were ahead, just seemed to plateau,” Busch said. “The competition crossed us over and they’re much better. We’re trying to play catch-up.”

Busch posted just 10 top 10s each of the last two seasons. He is not even a playoff driver, much less racing for a third championship.

“Honestly, if you’re not with a Gibbs team or a Hendrick team or a Penske team, it doesn’t seem like many other teams win races,” Busch said.

RCR shook up Busch’s race team this season and plucked crew chief Jim Pohlman away from Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s developmental series race team. Pohlman won the former Xfinity Series championship in 2024 with Justin Allgaier — and raised the standard within the RCR team.

“We need to win,” Busch said. “We’ve got to win.”

Busch hasn’t set a timetable on his career and said he won’t continue to race for purely financial reasons, even as he claimed he is out $10.4 million and filed suit in October alleging Pacific Life Insurance Company failed to reveal the true risks of the policies, along with providing false and negligent representations of what was supposed to be tax-free income for retirement.

“It’s only driven by my passion for it,” Busch said. “The monetary value of my career is irrelevant right now.”

Busch’s son, Brexton, turns 11 this year and has followed his father’s path into racing. He’ll race Legends cars and in the junior late model series this year, and dad still has hopes father and son can race against each other in Trucks once Brexton turns 17.

Busch can’t stomach limping to the NASCAR career finish line without celebrating more wins, more championships. Careers rarely end on high notes for NASCAR’s greats: Petty won his 200th career race in 1984 and never again when he retired in 1992. Johnson was still in championship form when he won his third race of 2017 in June — and never again over the final 3 1/2 years of his full-time career.

“At some point, it starts drying up,” Johnson said. “It did for me and it will for others. None of us know where that is for Kyle right now until he decides to step away. But there is a moment out there for everyone where production just goes down. Whatever it is, it dries up. I hope that isn’t the case for him. He’s such a talent.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Kyle Busch, (8) and Ross Chastain, (1) run during practice at the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto races at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Kyle Busch, (8) runs during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Kyle Busch speaks with his crew during NASCAR Daytona 500 qualifying, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Daytona, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Kyle Busch speaks during a NASCAR Daytona 500 media day, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Daytona, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Kyle Busch prepares for a photo during NASCAR Daytona 500 qualifying, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Daytona, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 28, 2026--

Eighty-five percent of customer service and support leaders are expanding human agent responsibilities as AI reduces contact volume and shifts work toward higher-value tasks, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company. Just thirty-one percent have implemented, or are planning, frontline workforce reductions through layoffs in response to AI through 1Q27.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260428850485/en/

A Gartner survey of 321 customer service and support leaders worldwide, conducted from September through October 2025, found that workforce transformation is underway, with 80% of service and support leaders reporting pressure to make workforce changes as AI reduces contact volumes and improves agent efficiency.

“Service and support leaders need a plan for how they will reshape their workforce for AI’s impact, otherwise a plan will be handed to them,” said Kathy Ross, Vice President Analyst in the Gartner Customer Service & Support Practice.

Rather than pursuing widespread job cuts, more organizations are taking a measured approach to managing these shifts. Sixty-three percent (63%) of service leaders are reducing frontline headcount gradually through attrition, while reallocating agent capacity toward higher-value responsibilities that support growth, loyalty and long-term efficiency (see Figure 1).

“As AI begins to automate simple work, that success creates a new challenge,” said Eric Keller, Senior Director Analyst in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice. “Service leaders must decide whether to simply do the same work at lower cost or to redeploy human agents into roles that AI cannot replace and that customers value most.”

AI Expands the Scope of Human Work

Rather than using AI efficiency gains solely to reduce costs, the majority of organizations are expanding and redefining the role of the human agent. The survey found that 85% of service leaders are adding new tasks and responsibilities to frontline agent roles, while 75% are shifting agents into entirely new roles within the service and support organization. Despite external expectations for rapid workforce reductions, large-scale layoffs remain the exception rather than the norm, underscoring a broader shift toward workforce redesign rather than elimination.

As agent roles evolve, human interaction continues to play a critical role in customer trust and decision-making. In a separate Gartner customer survey of 5,801 customers in the U.S. conducted from January - February 2025, 54% of customers said they trust human agents more than AI for product or service recommendations, compared with 32% who trust AI more, reinforcing the importance of human involvement in complex, high-stakes or advisory interactions.

“Organizations that only use AI to reduce costs risk missing a strategic opportunity,” said Keller. “The real advantage comes from combining AI efficiency with human judgment, empathy and experience to deliver outcomes that technology alone cannot.”

Gartner clients can read more in the report: As AI Frees Up Agent Capacity — Here’s What Smart Leaders Do and listen to the webinar: Redesign the Frontline Role for AI’s Impact.

Gartner is the World Authority on AI

Gartner is an indispensable partner to C-Level executives and technology providers as they implement AI strategies to achieve their mission-critical priorities. The independence and objectivity of Gartner insights provide clients with the confidence to make informed decisions and unlock the full potential of AI. Clients across the C-Level are using Gartner's proprietary AskGartner AI tool to determine how to leverage AI in their business. With more than 2,500 business and technology experts, 6,000 written insights, as well as more than 4,000 AI use cases and case studies, Gartner is the world authority on AI. More information can be found here.

About the Gartner Customer Service & Support Conference

The Gartner Customer Service & Support Conference is taking place November 4-5, 2026, in Denver, providing customer service and support leaders with actionable advice about the trends, tools and emerging technologies they need to deliver business results in an AI-driven world. Gartner analysts address the biggest opportunities, challenges and priorities in the market today, including the latest advancements in AI , innovative strategies that are transforming customer experience, streamlining support channels and harnessing data to drive results to shape the future of their organizations. Follow news and updates coming out of the conference on the Gartner Newsroom and on X and LinkedIn using #GartnerCSS.

About Gartner for Customer Service & Support Leaders

The customer service and support function is vital to maintaining customer loyalty and influencing brand perceptions. Gartner for Customer Service & Support Leaders provides indispensable insights, advice and tools needed to achieve service and support leaders’ mission-critical priorities, specifically improving the customer experience while managing costs; designing an optimal service channel strategy; measuring and reducing customer effort; and how to hire, develop and retain high-potential frontline talent.

Follow news and update from the Gartner Customer Service & Support Practice on X and LinkedIn using #GartnerCSS. Members of the media can find additional information and insights in the Gartner Customer Service & Support Newsroom.

About Gartner

Gartner (NYSE: IT) delivers actionable, objective business and technology insights that drive smarter decisions and stronger performance on an organization's mission-critical priorities. To learn more visit gartner.com.

Gartner Survey Finds 85% of Service and Support Leaders are Expanding Human Agent Responsibilities Despite Expectations of Mass AI Layoffs