NASCAR and its teams don’t retire numbers; they reserve them. In the wake of the death of Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing has elected to remove the No. 8 from the track for the time being, with the hopes that it will be waiting for another Busch down the line.
“Richard Childress Racing has elected to suspend use of the No. 8 and will run the No. 33 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and beyond,” the team said in a statement. “Kyle Busch was instrumental in the design of RCR’s stylized No. 8 and it has become synonymous with Kyle and an important symbol for his fans and the NASCAR industry. No one can carry it forward to the level that he did. The No. 8 is reserved and ready for Brexton Busch when he is ready to go NASCAR racing.”
Brexton Busch, Kyle’s 11-year-old son, has been racing on various circuits since 2020. He’s won more than a hundred races across various states.
Kyle Busch died on Thursday after suffering a medical episode Wednesday evening at the General Motors Charlotte Technical Center in Concord, N.C. An exact cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Just a few days before his death, Busch spoke about his record 234 wins across all of NASCAR’s three national series, and hinted at Brexton’s potential. “All records are made to be broken, right?” Busch said. “So maybe it’ll stick around for a long, long time. Maybe somebody out there one day will break it. Maybe I’m training that young guy that’s going to break it, my son Brexton.”
While he drove the No. 8 in the final three-plus years of his career, Busch is best known for driving the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. The No. 8 has had various drivers over the years, most notably Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the early 2000s. Earnhardt Jr. left the number behind when he moved from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick Motorsports.
NASCAR controls all cars’ numbers, but assigns them to its various teams to use and license as they see fit.
A quarter-century ago, Richard Childress Racing faced a similar tragic situation when Childress’ driver Dale Earnhardt died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Childress opted to hold onto the 3, putting then-rookie Kevin Harvick into the car and re-branding it with the No. 29. Harvick would go on to have a Hall of Fame career, while the 3 would remain off the track until Childress brought it back for his grandson, Austin Dillon, to run starting in 2014. Dillon continues to run the 3 to this day.
Austin Hill will replace Busch, beginning Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600.
