- Grosjean’s No. 18 IndyCar will feature a Joe Gibbs Racing-inspired font at the Indy 500.
- Busch’s dream of running Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on same day to be honoured.
- IndyCar drivers shared moving, personal stories reflecting the immense legacy.
Even when the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson, hit the 1,100-mile racing marathon in back-to-back in 2024 and 2025, the idea of the series most winningest driver, Kyle Busch, attempting the famous “Double” felt less like a fantasy and more like an unfinished chapter waiting to happen.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion had openly spoken about his desire to race both the Coca-Cola 600 and the Indianapolis 500 on the same day, joining one of motorsport’s most exclusive clubs. Subsequently, there were discussions. Near-deals. Real possibilities with both Andretti and McLaren at different points in his career. Somehow, though, the timing never aligned.
Now, just days after the racing world was shaken by the “Rowdy’s” sudden passing at 41, that unrealized Indy 500 dream has returned to the center of the conversation in the most emotional way possible.
The Story Behind Romain Grosjean’s Kyle Busch-Inspired Indy 500 Car
Ahead of the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500, Dale Coyne Racing has transformed Romain Grosjean’s No. 18 Honda into a tribute carrying unmistakable echoes of Busch’s NASCAR legacy.
The team adjusted the number font on the car to mirror the iconic style Busch used during his legendary run with Joe Gibbs Racing from 2008 through 2022, the same period in which he collected 56 of his 63 Cup Series victories.
The tribute itself reportedly came together with help from FOX Sports and JGR to ensure the No. 18 looked as authentic as possible. The idea was first pushed publicly by former IndyCar driver and current broadcaster Townsend Bell, who also shared a personal connection with Busch after the two competed together in the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
“Thanks to Dale Coyne Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing for making it happen,” Bell wrote on social media. “I’m still struggling to process this tragedy. Kyle Busch was a teammate… He couldn’t have been more generous when my son first arrived in Charlotte. He was a friend and I got to see his true character.”
That emotional tone has spread across Indianapolis all week. From tributes displayed on the frontstretch scoring pylon to the redesigned No. 18 machine sitting on pit lane, the motorsport world has quietly turned this year’s Indy 500 weekend into something bigger than just another race.
For many enthusiasts, it feels like a final acknowledgment of the one challenge Busch never got the chance to attempt.
Ironically, the No. 18 itself has never won the Indianapolis 500 despite more than a century of racing history at the Brickyard. On Sunday, Grosjean will roll off 24th, hoping to change that in his fourth Indy 500 appearance.
And if that number somehow finds its way to the front when the checkered flag falls, it would become more than just another Indianapolis 500 victory.
The Personal Stories Showing Who Kyle Busch Really Was
What has made the reaction to Busch’s passing feel especially emotional throughout the IndyCar paddock is not just the loss of a champion, but the number of drivers quietly sharing stories about the person behind the “Rowdy” image.
For Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Global), for that matter, the connection goes all the way back to childhood. Speaking after Carb Day practice on Friday, Kirkwood recalled meeting Busch as a young kid at just the second race he had ever attended.
Busch signed his hat that day, a simple interaction that left a permanent mark on the future IndyCar star.
“That was the first professional racer I think I met from all forms of motorsports,” Kirkwood said. “I got that signature and still have the hat to this day with my trophies.” Then came the kind of memory almost every racing fan can relate to from childhood.
“I remember that moment turned me on to racing,” Kirkwood added. “One of those, ‘I’m never going to wash my hand again’ moments.”
The 27-year-old said he was around seven years old at the time, and that interaction helped push his love for racing beyond karting and toward a professional career. Years later, he now enters the Indianapolis 500 as one of IndyCar’s stars while remembering the NASCAR driver who unknowingly inspired him at the very beginning.
The same sentiment has echoed from Katherine Legge, who is attempting the demanding Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 “Double” this weekend, the same challenge Busch once dreamed of pursuing himself.
Legge revealed that Busch and his wife, Samantha, were among the first to welcome her when she entered the NASCAR Cup Series. Then, like many across the garage this weekend, the emotion became difficult to hide.
“Racing has lost one of the greatest racers of all time,” Legge admitted. “He was a legend, and I think there’s a lot of shock regarding it because he was so young and so healthy.”
For all the victories, controversies, and intensity Busch brought to the racetrack over two decades, these are some of the warm personal anecdotes that seem to be surfacing most at Indianapolis this week.
Not just memories of an aggressive racer who later became synonymous with relentlessness, but memories of a pioneer whose impact stretched far beyond the cockpit.
