Indy 500 Winner Tony Kanaan Takes NASCAR’S Kyle Busch For A Ride In Indy Car At Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Kyle Busch has made a determined effort to compete in the Indianapolis 500 one day, but the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and winner of 63 NASCAR Cup Series races admits he has yet to strike a deal to compete in the Memorial Day Weekend Classic.

Last Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Busch said any possibilities to compete in next year’s Indianapolis 500 were “non-existent.”

“I’m definitely hoping to do it, it’s just a matter of making something happen,” Busch told me. “There are not enough teams out there to do it and do it the right way.

“I’m sure they could give me a test. I haven’t asked for one, but I think it would be feasible.”

It may not have been a ride in the Indianapolis 500, but Busch got a ride in an Indy car last Friday, thanks to Lucas Oil.

The motorsports sponsor arranged for the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Cup Series driver to ride in the Ruoff Mortgage “Fastest Seat in Sports” IndyCar “Two-Seater” with 2013 Indianapolis 500 winning driver and 2004 IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan.

Ten years ago, Busch and Kanaan did a two-seater ride at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the oval. On August 11, after IndyCar Series qualifications for the August 12 Gallagher Grand Prix, the two racing legends reprised their roles on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Kanaan completed his final IndyCar Series race of his career in the 107^th Indianapolis 500 on the oval on May 28. Busch finished 36^th in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.

Busch and Kanaan went for an out lap and then a fast lap before coming back into the pits.

“I thought it was a fun ride,” Busch said. “These cars are a bit different than the real thing, but it gives you a good sense of G forces and cornering capabilities and things like that. It was pretty cool.

“Had a great time today. Thanks to Tony for putting us out on the Indy road course and giving us a real ride of what it is like to get around here. Pretty cool capabilities of the car and what it is capable of, different than the Cup cars with braking points and G-loads through the corners, but I’ll still take my acceleration over the Indy car’s acceleration.”

Kanaan, ever the showman, couldn’t pass up an opportunity.

“Did you guys miss the announcement?” Kanaan said after he got out of the car. “Kyle Busch and I are racing at the Indianapolis 500 next year in this car.”

Kyle Busch quipped, “It will be the 34^th car.”

Of course, the Indianapolis 500 features a 33-car starting lineup, not 34.

“Kyle will drive 250 miles and I’ll driver 250,” Kanaan quipped. “I’m a big Kyle Busch fan in everything he has driven. He has proven one more time, including a few weeks ago, how good he is. I’m glad I’m retired when he comes to the Indianapolis 500 one day, I won’t have to face him.

“It would be awesome.

“It was a lot of fun to do this, but it’s not the real thing. I’ll be a big fan of Kyle when he does it.”

Busch said, “Kyle will be my driver coach when I come to the Indianapolis 500. He’s won it before so I’m sure he has some good pointers what it takes to get around here.

“It’s been a while since I’ve turned left around here.”

The August 12 Verizon 200 at the Brickyard may be the last time NASCAR uses the IMS road course. A Goodyear tire test was conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.5-mile oval.

It is expected that NASCAR will return to the oval with a revival of the famed Brickyard 400.

“They are doing a Goodyear test on the oval here on Monday, but until they announce a return to the oval, we can all just hope,” Busch said last Friday.

Busch is one of the many drivers that looks forward to a return to the oval, presumably as early as 2024.

Kanaan can relate to the experience of being in the back of the two-seater with another famous driver behind the wheel.

“I’ve been in the back of that car with Mario Andretti and Marco Andretti,” Kanaan said. “It was fun. Kyle wouldn’t want it any different so I drove as fast as I could, 100 percent.

“We both could have gone a little quicker, but it’s not the real car.”

Busch would like to return the favor and give Kanaan a ride in his NASCAR Cup Series car. Stay tuned for that possibility.

“Tony and I have been friends for a long, long time,” Busch said. “When we did this at Las Vegas 12 years ago, I actually got to get behind the wheel and drive an IndyCar.

“I’d love to give it a shot and get out there on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. To roll around here on the Indy road course is vastly different than the oval, but to get my feet and hands and everything in the Indy car, it’s been pretty neat.”

Busch has enjoyed the IndyCar/NASCAR Weekend, which will likely go away after this year when the schedule is announced. NASCAR Cup Series is expected to return to the oval in 2024 and IndyCar is expected to take this race away from IMS and transfer the slot to The Milwaukee Mile.

The IndyCar/NASCAR Weekend was borne out of necessity in 2020 because of the COVID shutdown. IndyCar needed races and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway served as a platform to help the series achieve a 14-race schedule after many venues had been shut down because of the pandemic.

NASCAR allowed IndyCar to share its weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the two series have co-existed through 2023.

“It’s really cool and it’s really fun to have the two paddocks in the garage area be so close to each other and the comradery with some of the IndyCar drivers,” Busch said. “I’m friends with a few of the IndyCar drivers, mainly Josef Newgarden.

“I watch NHRA. I watch IndyCar. I watch Off Road when I can. It’s neat to get to know those guys. Running in SRX this year has helped that, too.”

Busch and Kanaan have been friends and mutual admirers for most of their major racing careers. They finally got a chance to race each other in the SRX Series, which began as a six-race summer series on CBS, but this year became “Thursday Night Thunder” on ESPN.

If Busch is able to compete in the Indianapolis 500 one day, he would join his older brother Kurt, who competed in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 for Andretti Autosport.

Kurt Busch started 12^th and finished sixth and was named Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.