NASCAR: Why isn’t there a No. 18 car in 2023?

For the first time in more than three decades, there is not a No. 18 car in the NASCAR Cup Series this year, with Joe Gibbs Racing doing away with the number.

When Joe Gibbs Racing entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 1992, they entered with one car — the No. 18 Chevrolet — for Dale Jarrett. Every year since then, they have fielded a No. 18 car, most recently the No. 18 Toyota for Kyle Busch from 2008 to 2022.

But in 2023, there is no longer a No. 18 car in the Cup Series.

With longtime primary sponsor M&M’s announcing after the 2021 season that they would be leaving the Cup Series after 2022, there was always a possibility that Busch wouldn’t be back with the team in 2023. After another promising sponsorship development fell through, it appeared poised to become a reality.

Indeed, Busch has moved on. Following a long process of answering questions about what his future might look like, the 37-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native signed with Richard Childress Racing to replace Tyler Reddick behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chevrolet.

While Richard Childress initially stated that Reddick would be back in a third car, he ended up replacing Kurt Busch behind the wheel of the No. 45 Toyota at 23XI Racing. Kurt retired after the 2022 season because of a head injury he suffered in a qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway.

All along, Ty Gibbs was seen as a shoo-in replacement candidate for Busch if Busch ended up elsewhere, given the fact that he is the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs and was in the midst of an ultra-successful stint in the Xfinity Series which included four wins as a part-time driver in 2021 and a seven-win championship-winning season in 2022.

Gibbs did end up being named Busch’s replacement, but behind the wheel of a renumbered No. 54 Toyota. The 20-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native used the number during his time in the Xfinity Series, and rather than add to the legacy of the No. 18 car, the decision was made to have him write his own story in the No. 54 car.

As a result, the team opted not to run the No. 18 Toyota in 2023. The team’s other three car numbers are all set to return in 2023, with Denny Hamlin behind the wheel of the No. 11 Toyota, Martin Truex Jr. behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota, and Christopher Bell behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota.

However, the absence of the No. 18 car is reportedly only temporary. When it was announced that it would be replaced by the No. 54 car in 2023, the team made clear that they were not getting rid of the No. 18 car entirely and that it would, at some point, make a return to the Cup Series.

Whether its return comes at the expense of the No. 11 car, the No. 19 car, or the No. 20 car remains to be seen.

Both Hamlin and Truex are 42 years old and likely nearing the end of their careers, so either of their numbers could be replaced, but there is also a chance that the team give the iconic number to Bell and drop the No. 20. The No. 20 car was first run in 1999, when Tony Stewart drove the No. 20 Pontiac.