NASCAR Cup Series team issue official response to major retirement rumor

NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series outfit Richard Childress Racing have issued an official response to social media rumors that their team was set to see a major retirement.

On Tuesday, a tweet from an account posing as a NASCAR news page claimed that 80-year-old team owner Richard Childress was planning to retire at the end of the season, and that the team would be making 'big changes' behind the scenes heading into 2026.

Despite the page's small following, the tweet garnered significant traction in the NASCAR community, with over 65,000 impressions at the time of writing.

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Richard Childress Racing respond to retirement rumor

That was enough for Richard Childress Racing themselves to take to their official X account to shut down what was being said.

"This is not accurate," the official Richard Childress Racing account hit back on X.

"Richard Childress is not planning to retire following the end of the season."

This is not accurate. Richard Childress is not planning to retire following the end of the season.

— RCR (@RCRracing) October 1, 2025

Despite the above tweet, many NASCAR fans in the replies remained sceptical.

For example, one X user wrote: "Just denying is so he can announce on his own terms."

Elsewhere, another X user added: "This is usually the statement announced just before they announce 'at the start of next season Richard Childress is retiring'."

Another user expressed similar sentiment: "Very specific with your wording……so at the beginning of next season?"

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2025 struggles

The above comes after what has been a challenging campaign for Richard Childress and his team.

Although Austin Dillon won at Richmond and qualified for the Cup Series playoffs, he was eliminated in the first round, and his results throughout the season have been inconsistent, with more finishes outside of the top 20 than in

As for Kyle Busch and the No.8 team, things have been even more miserable. Given the 40-year-old's pedigree as a two-time champion, the expectations are that he will win races, but he simply hasn't had the machinery to do so this year.

Busch failed to make the playoffs for the second consecutive season in 2025 and is on a wildly inconsistent run at present that has seen him finish inside the top 10 on just one occasion.

The team certainly needs a big improvement heading into next season, and it sounds as though that looks set to be spearheaded by Childress himself.

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