![\"NASCAR\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-1420616629.jpg\")
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The No. 18 will only return to the NASCAR Cup Series under one condition. <\/p>\n
Joe Gibbs Racing co-owner Heather Gibbs said the No. 18, famously driven by Kyle Busch, will only return to the NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series for one reason.<\/p>\n If it is a Busch driving the car.<\/p>\n Busch, who died unexpectedly last May, was synonymous with the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He won 56 of his 63 Cup Series races and two Cup Series championships piloting the No. 18 machine.<\/p>\n Unless Kyle\u2019s son, Brexton, is behind the wheel, Gibbs said the No. 18 will never return to the Cup Series track.<\/p>\n Heather Gibbs on the No. 18: \u2018It\u2019s a sacred number\u2019<\/p>\n Heather Gibbs, daughter-in-law of car owner Joe Gibbs and mother of Cup Series driver Ty Gibbs, recently spoke to motorsports reporter Claire B. Lang<\/a> about the history of the No. 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n While past Cup champions such as Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett have sported the No. 18, Gibbs said Busch made the number along with the primary sponsor M&M\u2019s a household combination.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, it was incredibly personal. The No. 18 is iconic. The M&M\u2019s 18 car, that is the Kyle Busch car. Everybody recognizes that,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Busch competed for JGR from 2008-2022. His final race for the organization, Heather noted, was the 2022 championship race at Phoenix Raceway, the same weekend the Gibbs family tragically lost Coy, Heather\u2019s husband.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, I remember Kyle \u2014 he was in the M&M\u2019s 18 car. To me, that was his number,\u201d Heather said.<\/p>\n When the JGR organization learned of Busch\u2019s passing on May 21, three days prior to the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Heather said there was consideration to field a No. 18 car that weekend.<\/p>\n However, Heather shot the idea down in honor of Busch.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people were like, \u2018Let\u2019s put the 18 [on it]. Let\u2019s run it at Charlotte.\u2019 I said, \u2018We\u2019re not,\u2019\u201d Heather said.<\/p>\n Heather said JGR has no plans of running a No. 18 unless a Busch is behind the wheel.<\/p>\n Kyle\u2019s 11-year-old son, Brexton, currently drives the No. 18 in Legends car races and micro sprint dirt races. Heather described the No. 18 as \u201csacred\u201d and believes only someone with the Busch name should represent the number.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Kyle Busch was the last one to run it, that number is going to stay parked inside our organization unless another Busch is going to put it on the track. Whatever Brexton decides to do. He runs the 18 in his Legends cars and his micro. To me, it\u2019s a sacred number and it will never be run without a Busch being the last name,\u201d Heather said.<\/p>\n Ty Gibbs running Kyle Busch tribute scheme at Bristol<\/p>\n While a No. 18 will not be on the door, Ty Gibbs is fielding a signature Kyle Busch paint scheme this Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. In honor of Busch, Gibbs is racing a special M&M\u2019s paint scheme dedicated to the late champion.<\/p>\n Gibbs enters as the defending Bristol winner in the Cup Series after winning last April\u2019s Food City 500. In last year\u2019s Bristol night race, Gibbs led a race-high 201 laps before finishing 10th.\u00a0<\/p>\n The tributes to Kyle Busch will continue this weekend. Every fan who bought a grandstand ticket will receive a yellow Kyle Busch towel. Fans are expected to wave the towels at Lap 18 for a special tribute moment. <\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJohn Breeden<\/a> John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The No. 18 will only return to the NASCAR Cup Series under one condition. Joe Gibbs Racing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-900294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}