#SrigleyStats Countdown to Daytona: 18 Days!
Wednesday, January 31st, 2024 -- 18 Days Until Daytona!
18 DAYS UNTIL DAYTONA!
Let’s look back at the history of the #18 in NASCAR’s National Series.
FIRST USAGE:
NCS: 1949-07 — Pittsburg — John Wright
NXS: 1982-01 — Daytona — Roy McGraw
NCTS: 1995-01 — Phoenix — Johnny Benson, Jr.
BEST FINISH:
NCS: 80 NASCAR Cup Series Victories (Most: Kyle Busch, 56)
NXS: 76 NASCAR Xfinity Series Victories (Most: Kyle Busch, 58)
NCTS: 36 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Victories (Most: Kyle Busch, 16)
BEST START:
NCS: 56 NASCAR Cup Series Poles (Most: Kyle Busch, 28)
NXS: 70 NASCAR Xfinity Series Poles (Most: Kyle Busch, 34)
NCTS: 39 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Poles (Most: Joe Ruttman, 12)
IS THE NUMBER ACTIVE?
Yes. The #18 was active just in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2023, and not in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, despite a long tenure of successful runs with the number.
In the NASCAR Cup Series, the #18 isn’t currently being used. However, the car number had a long run at NASCAR’s top level courtesy of Joe Gibbs Racing, who stopped using the number after Kyle Busch departed the organization for Richard Childress Racing.
Joe Gibbs Racing brought the number on track for the first time within its organization in 1992, which continued for three decades, with drivers like Bobby Labonte, JJ Yeley, and most famously Busch.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Joe Gibbs Racing has continued to use the #18 despite the absence of Kyle Busch, this season fielding the entry for Sammy Smith, the two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion for the organization.
However, much like in the NASCAR Cup Series, Joe Gibbs Racing has been utilizing the #18 for a long time, for drivers such as Kyle Busch, JJ Yeley, Daniel Suarez, and many others.
In 2024, Sheldon Creed will take over the driving duties of the #18 Toyota GR Supra, as Sammy Smith departs to drive for JR Motorsports.
In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the #18 isn’t currently active but had been for several years through Kyle Busch Motorsports, which discontinued the number within its organization after Busch left for Richard Childress Racing.
Chandler Smith, now a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, last piloted the #18 in the NASCAR Truck Series, competing for a championship with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022, but coming up short.
However, the #18 is set to return to the NASCAR Truck Series in 2024 - albeit with a completely different look. Tyler Ankrum moves over from Hattori Racing Enterprises to pilot the #18 Chevrolet for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.
WHO HAS MOST FREQUENTLY USED THE #18?
NASCAR Cup Series: Kyle Busch — 528 Starts
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Kyle Busch — 141 Starts
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Joe Ruttman — 65 Starts
MISCELLANEOUS STATS ABOUT THE #18 IN NASCAR
Kyle Busch has captured victories in each of NASCAR’s National Series while piloting the #18 — something that only two other drivers have been able to accomplish with a single car number.
When Dale Jarrett joined Joe Gibbs Racing for the 1992 season, it wouldn’t be the first time he would strap into the #18 at NASCAR’s top level, having piloted a 24-race schedule for Eric Freedlander in 1987, driving the #18.
There’s no doubt that when you think of the #18 — in any of NASCAR’s National Series — you think of Kyle Busch and his accomplishments. While using the number, Busch collected 130 victories — accounting for two-thirds of the number’s wins.
Despite the part-time nature of the #18 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series throughout the years, no drivers — other than Kyle Busch — have run the number in all of NASCAR’s top-three series.
While driving the #18 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Kyle Busch managed to score 30 top-five finishes in 39 starts, and 33 top-10s in that same number of starts — putting together an amazing statline.
Across NASCAR’s National Series, Kyle Busch led a whopping 30,725 laps while driving the #18, nearly 10 times the amount that any driver was able to lead in any single series.
Despite the extensive usage of the #18 by Kyle Busch Motorsports, the number ran more races as a Dodge-affiliated entry in the NASCAR Truck Series than it did as a Toyota-affiliated entry.