A NASCARCup Seriesgarage on race morning is not a quiet place. Air guns, shouting, engines turning over – it is controlled chaos at volume. Saturday morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway was none of that.
Video circulating from the garage area shows the Richard Childress Racing crew unloading the No. 33 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in near total silence, with crew members from rival teams, NASCAR officials, and media personnel lining the lane and standing completely still as the car made its way to the inspection bays. Rain had left the pavement slick, and the overcast sky gave the whole scene a weight that matched the moment. The only sounds were the mechanical hum of the hauler liftgate and the squeak of Goodyear slicks on wet concrete.
The Cup Series garage watched in silence as RCR team members unloaded Kyle Busch‘s car – the No. 33 Chevrolet to be driven this weekend by Austin Hill – from the RCR hauler Saturday morning.
The number itself carries its own meaning: Richard Childress Racing has elected to suspend use of the No. 8 and will run the No. 33 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and beyond.
RCR stated that Busch was instrumental in the design of the team’s stylized No. 8, which had become synonymous with him and with the sport’s fanbase. “No one can carry it forward to the level that he did.”
Why the No. 33, and What Happens to the No. 8
The team changed the No. 8 to No. 33 to temporarily retire Busch’s iconic number, keeping it reserved until Busch’s 11-year-old son, Brexton, is ready to race in NASCAR.
Brexton has been racing since age five and currently competes in legend and Jr. late model cars.
It is a decision that has feels like it’s come around again. RCR did a similar thing 25 years ago, when Dale Earnhardt‘s No. 3 was changed to No. 29 after Earnhardt’s death as Kevin Harvick stepped into the car.
The organization has been through this before, and it shows.
Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion who won more races across the sport’s three national series than any driver in history, died at the age of 41 on Thursday.
He had been testing in the Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord on Wednesday when he became unresponsive and was transported to a hospital in Charlotte, according to the Associated Press.
The Busch family subsequently released a statement confirming that “the medical evaluation provided to the Busch Family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications.”
The scene captured in that garage video, rival crews standing shoulder to shoulder in the rain, going still for a car they did not field, says more about Busch’s standing in the sport than any stat line could.
He won a combined 234 Cup, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and Truck Series races across his career, more than any driver in history.
The No. 8 sits parked now. It will wait.