Dale Coyne Racing Will Pay Tribute To Kyle Busch's No. 18 Car At Indy 500

In NASCAR, the No. 18 car is most often associated with Kyle Busch and the many years of success he had driving the car for Joe Gibbs Racing. In IndyCar and the Indy 500, the No. 18 has been run by the Dale Coyne Racing team drivers for the better part of 20 years.

Romain Grosjean will be seated in the No. 18 car for the big race on Sunday but the team has decided to make one noteworthy change beforehand. Busch himself never got the opportunity to race in the Indy 500 despite wanting to do so, but DCR might be able to do the next best thing.

According to Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal, DCR will be running the No. 18 car with Grosjean and the number on the side will be in the stylized font that Busch used during his many years with Joe Gibbs Racing.

"@DaleCoyneRacing will run its No. 18 car in tomorrow's Indy 500 with the same font that Kyle Busch used for years @JoeGibbsRacing to pay respect to the NASCAR legend," Stern wrote.

A touching tribute

NASCAR and IndyCar fans applauded the announcement, with some declaring that Busch finally gets to race in the Indy 500 in spirit, if not in person.

"Great way to pay tribute to Busch well done in everyone getting involved in making it happen," one user applauded.

"That's a pretty awesome and surprising tribute. Damn!" wrote another.

"This is awesome 🔥 love when motorsports comes together like this," a third wrote.

"I know it's all about the #8-and rightfully so-but I needed to see more #18 this weekend. This is great. This will always be KFB to me."

"So glad to see DCR doing this. Will be nice to see this at track tomorrow."

"Somehow someway, Kyle is finally running the Indianapolis 500 like he's always wanted."

Busch passed away this week at the age of 41 in the middle of a NASCAR career that ranks among the greatest in the history of the sport. He accomplished just about everything there is to accomplish in American motorsports racing.

While the Indy 500 may not be a NASCAR race, it does rank among the prestigious motorsports races in the country and it's been a dream of many NASCAR racers to simply compete in it, let alone win it.

There's going to be a lot more fans rooting for the No. 18 car on Sunday. That's for certain now.

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This story was originally published May 23, 2026 at 10:10 PM.