IndyCar: Will Kyle Busch compete in the 2020 Indianapolis 500?

Having just signed a new contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, will Kyle Busch compete in the 2020 Indianapolis 500 in IndyCar?

For the first time since November of 2015, Kyle Busch signed a new contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing to remain with the team in the NASCAR Cup Series for several more years.

The exact details of this new contract extension were not revealed, but given the fact that it is a multi-year deal, the 33-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native appears poised to drive the #18 Toyota for the team for at least another three to four seasons, and he is set to do so with primary sponsorship from Mars, Incorporated.

Busch has driven the Mars, Incorporated-sponsored #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota since the start of the 2008 season after spending the first three seasons of his career as a full-time Cup Series driver driving the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

As a result of his new contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch also appears poised to compete in the biggest race on the 2020 IndyCar schedule, the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

How, exactly, does that work?

A few days before the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in 2017, Busch revealed that he had a ride lined up to compete in the Indy 500 at the track earlier in the year. Here is what he had to say about the matter, 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.”"

The boss who said yes was his wife, Samantha. The boss who said no was Joe Gibbs Racing team owner Joe Gibbs. Here is what Samantha had to say about the matter 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 Busch has two bosses who say yes.

At the time when Busch made his quote about one of his bosses saying yes and the other saying no, he also stated the following, according to IndyStar.

"“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.”"

But per Busch’s new contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, he is reportedly allowed to compete in the Indy 500 beginning in 2020. Will he put his money where his mouth is next year and compete with 32 of IndyCar’s best for a chance to have his likeness put on the Borg-Warner Trophy forever?

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If Busch does compete in the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana, he would likely fly down to Concord, North Carolina later that night to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series race, the Coca-Cola 500, at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) high-banked Charlotte Motor Speedway oval.

This would make Busch the first driver to attempt the Memorial Day Double since his brother Kurt attempted it in 2014. Kurt, who became the fourth driver to compete in both races of the Memorial Day Double on the same day, finished in sixth place in the Indy 500 after starting in 12th behind the wheel of the #26 Andretti Autosport Honda, but an engine failure in his #41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet on lap 272 of the 400-lap Coca-Cola 600 relegated him to a 40th place finish in that race after he started in 28th, preventing him from completing all 600 laps and all 1,100 laps of the Memorial Day Double.

Kyle Busch, meanwhile, has started in a total of 14 Cup Series races at the “Brickyard”. He is a two-time Brickyard 400 winner, as he won the race at the track in 2015 and then again in 2016. He has recorded five top four finishes and nine top 10 finishes in these 14 races, and his average finish at the track is 10.71.

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Will Kyle Busch compete in his first IndyCar race by competing in the 2020 Indianapolis 500? Given the terms of his next contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, this is not something that should be ruled out, especially not this soon.