IndyCar: Will Kyle Busch compete in the 2020 Freedom 100?

If Kyle Busch makes his first career IndyCar start in the 2020 Indianapolis 500, would he also compete in the Indy Lights race at the track, the Freedom 100?

Kyle Busch’s NASCAR career is recognized not only by his success in the Cup Series but in his success in the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series. In fact, the full-time Cup Series driver has earned more victories in fewer Xfinity Series and Truck Series starts than he has in the Cup Series.

Busch has earned 51 Cup Series victories in 501 career starts. Meanwhile, he has earned 93 Xfinity Series victories in 346 career starts and 53 Truck Series victories in 147 career starts.

Rumors recently emerged that the 33-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native may compete in the Indianapolis 500 in 2020, as the new contract extension that he signed with Joe Gibbs Racing to continue driving the #18 Toyota for the team in the Cup Series for several more seasons allows him to do so starting next year.

When asked before the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in July of 2017 about potentially competing in the Indy 500 one day, here is what the two-time Brickyard 400 winner had to say, according to IndyStar.

"“I had it done last year, sold and everything ready to go, and I’ve got a boss that said no. Figure it out. 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 think the biggest thing that scares my boss is that I’ve never driven those cars and so I don’t know — you 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.”"

In other words, Joe Gibbs Racing team owner Joe Gibbs was not previously allowing Busch to compete in the Indy 500, but Busch’s wife Samantha was. Here is what Samantha had to say about the matter back in 2016, according to IndyCar.

"“Well, I can’t say it’s on the top of my list of things for him to do just because I am a worrier, but I know that one day it is something that he really wants to check off his bucket list. So, although I will be a nervous wreck throughout, I will support him all the way if he decides to do it one day.”"

Now that Gibbs is allowing Busch to compete in IndyCar’s most famous race, we will have to see if the 2015 Cup Series champion puts his money where his mouth is.

But if Busch does end up competing in the 104th running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana in 2020, would he also compete in the Indy Lights race at the track, the 40-lap Freedom 100, on the Friday before it?