Kyle Larson: Five Possible Landing Spots in 2018
By Asher Fair
No. 2 – Team Penske
The current driver of the #2 Team Penske Ford, Brad Keselowski, has stated that he has hopes for a contract extension with the team. However, the 2012 champion still has not gotten it yet. While it is likely that Keselowski will get that extension, if Kyle Larson is in play for Team Penske with Keselowski still without an extension, things could get interesting.
We know how Team Penske operates. If team owner Roger Penske, who is one of two team owners who owns both a NASCAR team and an IndyCar team along with Kyle Larson’s current team owner Chip Ganassi, sees a driver that he likes, he doesn’t hesitate to go after him.
Juan Pablo Montoya made his IndyCar return in 2014 and finished in 4th place in the championship standings. The next season, Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 and led the standings after every race except the season finale before finishing in 2nd place. Then last season, he finished in 8th place in the standings, but the team let go of him in order to sign up-and-coming star Josef Newgarden instead.
Larson has stated that he has interest in driving in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day to attempt to complete the Memorial Day Double. Given the fact that Roger Penske owns a team in both NASCAR and IndyCar, Team Penske and the #2 Ford would be a good option for him if he wants to pursue this dream.
Roger Penske is no stranger to having NASCAR drivers in his cars for the Indianapolis 500, either. AJ Allmendinger, a former IndyCar driver and current full-time NASCAR driver, drove in the 2013 Indianapolis 500 for Team Penske. He started in 5th place and finished in 7th and may very well have won the race after leading 23 laps if not for an issue with his seat belt that forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop.
Allmendinger, however, was not even driving for Team Penske in NASCAR at the time. In fact, he only had a part-time ride in NASCAR that season due to the fact that a drug test he took in 2012 came back positive, and he did not go on to attempt the Memorial Day Double by racing in the Coca-Cola 600 after the Indianapolis 500 . But the fact is, Larson probably would want to, and Roger Penske may just let him do so if he ends up signing with Team Penske.