Murphy don't lose that number.

Holden star Greg Murphy will retain his trademark #51 next season, after the support shown by his fans acted as the catalyst for a swap of numbers between the PWR Racing and Kmart Racing teams.

Murphy leaves the Kmart team for PWR next season, and has been able to take the #51 to match PWR's existing #50 for 2005. Kmart, meanwhile, has accepted the #16 from PWR to book-end its #15.

Murphy has become synonymous with the #51 in recent years, winning one of his four Bathurst 1000 titles and twice finishing runner-up in the championship standings - in 2002-03 - while carrying the iconic digits. He finished fourth in the 2004 championship with the Kmart team, but will carry the #51 with him when he joins PWR for 2005. His new team-mate, Paul Weel, will adopt the vacant #50 used in 2004 by Jason Bright.

Murphy said he hadn't given too much thought to retaining his number until many of his fans asked the question of him.

"I've had a few successful years with #51, but it was the fans that really responded and said they wanted me to keep the number," he admitted, "It's nice to see that fans can be so passionate - they certainly like their traditions and I'm more than happy to keep #51 to keep them content. Kmart owner John Kelly was fantastic about it, and it made sense for both teams to put their numbers in sequence."

Double Bathurst winner Rick Kelly will retain the #15 he has raced under for the past two seasons, while Murphy's replacement at Kmart, Garth Tander, makes a fresh start with Weel's former #16.