Romain Grosjean is to run today’s Indy 500 with a touching tribute to the late NASCAR great Kyle Busch.
Busch, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, died on Thursday aged 41 after severe pneumonia turned into sepsis, after becoming unresponsive and then coughing up blood on Wednesday whilst testing in a simulator.
Throughout his long NASCAR Cup career, in which he won 63 races and the 2015 and 2019 titles, Busch was associated largely with the #18 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, usually in the iconic M&Ms Toyota Camry.
Busch was the winningest driver in history across Cup, O’Reilly, and Trucks with 234 wins.
For the Indy 500, Grosjean is running car #18, with Fox Sports broadcaster Townsend Bell having the idea for Grosjean’s car to run the #18 in the font which Busch made so famous during his spell with JGR.
After leaving for Richard Childress Racing for 2023, Busch moved to the #8 car, which RCR has now retired from use, rebranding it to the #33 machine from now on. Should Busch’s son Brexton ever make it to NASCAR, RCR will re-trigger the number #8 for him.
