INDIANAPOLIS – Kyle Busch revealed he had a deal to compete in this year’s 101st Indianapolis 500, but it was vetoed by powers greater than he.
“I had it done last year – sold and everything ready to go – and I’ve got a boss that said no,” Busch said.
Which boss was it? His team owner, Joe Gibbs, or his wife, Samantha?
“Figure it out,” he quipped. “I’ve got two bosses – one’s a male and one’s a female. I thought that I had a great opportunity to do it.
“I’m kind of glad it didn’t come together because of (Fernando) Alonso kind of stole the headlines the last time it was done, but, there may be more in the future guys coming over to run that race, so, I may have to split the limelight if you will with somebody else that kind of wants to do that race.”
Busch would have joined his brother, Kurt, as recent NASCAR Cup champions who have also competed in the Indianapolis 500. Kurt Busch won the 2004 Cup title and competed in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 with Andretti Autosport. He finished sixth and earned the Sunoco Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Award.
Kyle Busch won the 2015 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
“I think it’d be fun,” Busch said of running the Indianapolis 500. “It’d be a unique opportunity. I think the biggest thing that scares my boss is that I’ve never driven those cars and so I don’t know…
“A Cup car or a XFINITY car or a Truck or something like that like I know what to feel and how to feel and when something bad starts to happen, I can straighten it out or normally I can try to fix it although that didn’t quite happen one time. So, I think that’s probably the biggest fear is just not knowing what those cars do when you get into a bad situation.”
Busch drives for Toyota in NASCAR, which is a factor because currently Honda and Chevrolet are the two engine suppliers in the Verizon IndyCar Series.
“It would keep your options open a little bit for either side of the engine manufacturer and obviously next year that’s going to change with the aero platform to my understanding with just engines being the culprit and not necessarily being an aero package anymore,” Busch said. “Obviously if Toyota was a third, I would be limited to that, so it does kind of keep your options open.”
Busch has won five times at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – three times in the Lilly Diabetes 250 and the past two years in the Brickyard 400. In fact, Busch has swept both the XFINITY Series and Cup races the past two years at the speedway.
Would Busch ever trade a NASCAR win for a victory in the Indianapolis 500?
“Nah, I’m good,” Busch said. “I’d like to be able to just have an opportunity to go out and earn it myself and if that day ever comes then we’ll see what happens.”
Source :speedsport.com
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