JGR breaks silence on possibility of the signature No:18 car’s NASCAR return

JGR hasn’t had the No:18 on the field since the 2023 season.

JGR breaks silence on possibility of the signature No:18 car’s NASCAR return

Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell (In Circle) and Martin Truex Jr. (Via IMAGO)

The No:18 is arguably the signature number of Joe Gibbs Racing. From its first race in 1992 with Dale Jarett, it has been part team. The team has won three Cup championship, thanks to Kyle Busch and Bobby Lobante. But since the start of the 2023 season, it has been missing from the NASCAR Cup garage. 

Following Kyle Busch’s move to RCR at the end 2022 season, Joe Gibbs signed them Xfinity Series champion and his grandson Ty Gibbs as the replacement. For his rookie season JGR decided to use the No:54 car instead of the No:18. Recently during the announcement of Chase Briscoe’s move to JGR, Gibbs addressed the possible return of the number back on the car.

Gibbs was asked if he had discussed about using the No:18 instead of No:19 for Briscoe. He responded that though they have talked about the stuff a lot, it wasn’t the situation to make the call. Coach asserted sometime in the future the number would return to a Joe Gibbs Racing car, but he isn’t sure when and how.

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We’ve always have talks about stuff like that, but I don’t think it fit in this situation. We’re 19 now and Johnny [Morris] loves it, so I think that has a big influence too… I think somewhere in the future I guess we [would consider it]. But that one I haven’t thought through, I’ll put it that way.
Joe Gibbs told Bob Pockrass.

Chase Briscoe revealed the culture of JGR

While talking about JGR in his announcement, Briscoe highlighted the winning culture there which starts at the top with their Super Bowl winning owner Joe Gibbs. He asserted that they have huge faith in themselves at JGR and always does the things right for the win.

Chase Briscoe
Chase Briscoe (Via IMAGO)
I think just how Joe (Gibbs, owner and founder, Joe Gibbs Racing) is as a person. It starts at the top. The faith part of it was big, and obviously they want to do everything they can to win, but I feel like they do it the right way here.
Chase Briscoe said.

While it would have been great for Gibbs to give Briscoe the No:18 Car, it seems they didn’t see it as the right option. It would be interesting see when and who will get the 18 car at JGR in the future, as well as what part Briscoe will have in the decision.

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