Kyle Busch isn’t one to sugarcoat his thoughts. He didn’t this week during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. The Richard Childress Racing driver tackled a variety of subjects, including drivers fighting, what it takes to get into F1 and why it’s not in his future, and the possibility of racing IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500. It was during that last topic when the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion made a surprising revelation about the race and how another Kyle got the ride over him.
“It’s the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on the same day. They’re both in May. And my brother did do it,” Busch acknowledged. “He ran I think seventh in the Indy 500 and then he was running fourth or fifth when his engine expired during the Coke 600, so he wasn’t able to finish that one. He had a respectable showing in the Indy 500 never driving an IndyCar before, so he did a really good job with that.
“This year it’s going to be tiny Kyle. So Kyle Larson is going to do it and he kind of actually snuck in maybe, a little bit, on getting that ride from me. That’s who I was talking to about doing the deal, but he got there quicker.”
Kyle Busch Denied by Joe Gibbs in Past
Kyle Busch admitting Kyle Larson took his ride is just the last painful chapter on getting denied to compete in the prestigious race and, unfortunately, it’s a familiar one.
Busch originally planned to follow in his brother’s footsteps and race the Indianapolis 500 back in 2017 and everything was in place for it to happen. However, it all fell apart when Joe Gibbs denied his driver. Busch talked about that situation and his thoughts about running the Greatest Spectacle in Racing at Texas in May 2022.
@kylebusch mentioned how @KyleLarsonRacin snuck in and took his Indianapolis 500 ride on the @PatMcAfeeShow. A couple of years ago Busch talked about how he was close to racing the prestigious event until team owner Joe Gibbs intervened and told him no. pic.twitter.com/R5BttdiqcT
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) March 15, 2024
“It’s certainly on my radar,” Busch said. “The year that I had it sold and committed and sponsorship was there and everything like that, I got told no. I haven’t necessarily tried to sell sponsorship since. There was an easy verbal yes commitment, and things have changed obviously. Don’t have that these days. Overall, excited to be able to watch and cheering for our old pal Jimmie Johnson to go out there and run well and be good.”
Those remarks were when Rowdy raced at JGR. His situation has changed and now it’s not his team owner preventing him from competing at Indy but a fellow Cup competitor.
Will he ever get a chance to race the event? Time will tell.