Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has not featured the number 18 on the track since the 2023 season. This number has become synonymous with the team since its debut in 1992 with Dale Jarett. JGR has achieved great success, winning three Cup championships. However, since the start of the 2023 season, the number 18 has been absent from the NASCAR Cup garage.
After Kyle Busch’s departure to RCR at the end of the 2022 season, JGR hired the Xfinity Series champion and Joe Gibbs’ grandson as his replacement. Instead of using the number 18 in his rookie season, JGR decided to use the number 54 car. During the recent announcement of Briscoe’s move to JGR, Joe Gibbs addressed the possibility of bringing back the number 18.
Joe Gibbs stated that they did not consider changing the number 19 to the number 18, which is the original JGR number that has not been used in the past two years. He mentioned that they have not yet formulated a plan to reintroduce this number. When asked if they discussed using the number 18 for Briscoe, Gibbs explained that although they had several conversations about it, the timing was not right to make that decision. He assured that at some point in the future, the number 18 will be used again on a Joe Gibbs Racing car, although the exact timing and method are uncertain.
Briscoe, in his announcement, emphasized the winning culture at JGR, which comes from Super Bowl-winning owner Joe Gibbs. He expressed his confidence in the team and his commitment to doing things the right way for victory.
Although it would have been ideal for Gibbs to assign Briscoe the number 18 car, it seems they did not consider it the appropriate choice. It will be intriguing to see when and who will eventually inherit the number 18 car at JGR, as well as the role Briscoe will play in this decision.
