Romain Grosjean’s No. 18 car will police Kyle Busch at the INDY 500

Kyle Busch’s iconic No. 18 will hit the track during the 2026 INDY 500. Romain Grosjean will drive his usual No. 18 car in the INDY 500, but it will have a different look. The No. 18 font will be the one Busch used for 15 years in NASCAR. The idea came from FOX Sports commentator Townsend Bell. From there, Joe Gibbs Racing helped finish the job to make it happen. Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and 63-time winner, died suddenly Thursday. His loss was felt in Charlotte, where the Coca-Cola 600 will take place on Sunday, as well as in Indianapolis, where drivers paid tribute to the very competitive Busch. “He was an extreme driver, one of the best we’ve ever seen on the track, and I’m just talking about his skills,” two-time INDY 500 winner Josef Newgarden told reporters Friday. “I’m sure the hardest part is what he’s leaving behind for his kids and what they have to go through. Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was in Indianapolis the week before the race and also paid tribute to Busch. The courage, the natural skills, and then the ability to relate all of that to the engineering process and communicate how it feels, develop that, understand cars and construction. [of the cars]” Johnson told our Bob Pockrass and another reporter. “Technically, in [knowing] building a car, he is one of the best. He had that old school know-how and understanding, but he could relate to the engineers, which is very special in itself. “And then he had all this courage and all this skill to achieve it.”