The 2294-day streak on Brown's shoulders with #888
#888 back full-time in Supercars for first time since 2018
Jamie Whincup/Lowndes claimed #888's last win at 2019 Sandown 500
Craig Lowndes raced #888 to 58 wins between 2005 and 2019
The feared and revered #888 is back in Supercars, and logically, it has been a long time between drinks.
The number is intrinsically linked with Triple Eight Race Engineering, with Team 18-bound Lowndes its greatest owner.
Between 2005 and 2018, Lowndes won 55 races with the #888 on his window, headlined by six Bathurst 1000 victories.
After his full-time retirement, Lowndes partnered with Jamie Whincup between 2019 and 2021, with the duo carrying the #888 in 2019 and 2020 before they steered Whincup's preferred #88 in 2021.
While out of the full-time game, Lowndes struck gold with Whincup immediately, adding wins on the Gold Coast and Sandown with the #888.
As it stands, though, the Sandown 500 victory in November 2019 remains the 58th and most recent win for the #888, which returns at the hands of a champion driver in Brown.
When Brown rolls out for Race 1 in Sydney on February 20, 2294 days and 179 races will have passed since one of the most successful race numbers in Supercars victory last rolled into victory lane.
Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander ran it as a once-off at the 2021 Bathurst 1000, before Lowndes raced the team's enduro wildcard with the #888 between 2022 and 2025. A best of fifth, at the 2024 Sandown 500, remains the #888's best result since 2019.
Despite his dominance, Lowndes never won the title with the #888, finishing runner-up six times (2005, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015) and third once (2007).
Simply, for all of #888's successes, it remains without a championship.
Lowndes, though, believes the number is best suited to both team and Brown, saying: “This number is iconic to the team. In motor racing and in sports sponsors come and go, liveries change, kits change. But this is Triple Eight Race Engineering, that’s the number and it’s iconic with the success that comes out of this workshop.
“When I first arrived I was lucky enough to carry the number and to see the legacy of the number continue on, it's an iconic number for the sport, and it's an iconic number for the team, so it's going to be really great to see the car running around with that number on the side.
“I know Will pretty well, to have him carry on that legacy I think that he'll do it proud. He's obviously a great young talent which does sound strange already being a Supercars Champion, he’s a proven young talent.
“I think the new change of manufacturer, the new change of car, the new change of number, it’s all a good fit and I think at the start of the season he’ll come out punching.”
The new-look #888 Red Bull Ampol Mustang will be unveiled this weekend at a fan event in Geelong.
