Indy 500: Memorial Day Double never an option for 2021?

NASCAR driver Cody Ware is not running the Indy 500, but we wouldn’t have seen the first Memorial Day Double since 2014 anyway.

Not since 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch made his IndyCar debut in the 98th running of the Indy 500 back in 2014 has any driver attempted to complete the “Memorial Day Double”.

Competing in both the Indy 500 IndyCar race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then flying to Charlotte Motor Speedway to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 Cup Series race on the same Memorial Day Sunday is a rare feat.

Also. Danica Patrick's worst crash. light

Only four drivers have ever managed to compete in both the 200-lap open-wheel race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana and the 400-lap stock car race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Concord, North Carolina in succession.

Before Busch, only the late John Andretti, Robby Gordon and Tony Stewart had done it, with only Stewart completing all 1,100 miles.

More from IndyCar

Andretti was the first to do it back in 1994. Davy Jones attempted to do it in 1995 but failed to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600. Gordon did it for the first of a record five times in 1997 before doing it again in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Stewart did it in 1999 and 2001, completing all 600 laps and 1,100 miles with finishes of sixth place in the Indy 500 and third in the Coca-Cola 600 in 2001. For the first time in seven years this year, we almost had a full-time Cup Series driver compete in the Indy 500 with Cody Ware. But that won’t happen.

However, even if it would have, we still wouldn’t have seen a Memorial Day Double in 2021.

Ware is in his first season of full-time competition driving for Petty Ware Racing, the team owned by his father Rick. Rick Ware Racing run four full-time entries, with Cody’s being run using a charter from Richard Petty Motorsports. Other than that association, the entry is still a Rick Ware Racing entry.

Rick Ware Racing formed a partnership with Dale Coyne Racing’s IndyCar team ahead of last year’s Indy 500, and James Davison competed behind the wheel of the #51 Honda in an effort that was also supported by Byrd Belardi.

This season, the two organizations formed a full-time partnership, featuring one full-time entry and one part-time entry. The #51 Honda runs full-time alongside Dale Coyne Racing’s #18 Honda, which is fielded through a separate partnership with Vasser-Sullivan, and the #52 Honda is slated to feature in select races.

Ed Jones is the full-time driver of the #18 Honda and Pietro Fittipaldi is the oval driver of the #51 Honda, with Romain Grosjean driving it in the road and street course races, but the #52 Honda remained without any confirmed drivers through the season’s first four races.

The ride was Ware’s to lose for the Indy 500, but he was unable to secure sponsorship, and as a result, the #52 Honda will not be run at all in the race. The plan is still to run it in select races throughout the rest of the season, however, with Ware driving it to make his IndyCar debut at some point.

But even if Ware had been on the entry list for this race and successfully qualified for it and competed in it, he would not have competed in the Coca-Cola 600 later that night, despite being a full-time Cup Series driver.

Garrett Smithley had already been lined up to run the Coca-Cola 600 in the #51 Chevrolet, so Ware’s involvement in the NASCAR race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway would have been limited to the Xfinity Series race the day prior.

But given his extensive racing background, which includes much more than his 66 NASCAR national series starts, don’t be surprised if Ware joins the likes of Andretti, Gordon, Stewart and Busch on this exclusive list at some point in the future.

Top 25 IndyCar drivers of all-time. dark. Next

The 105th running of the Indy 500 is set to be broadcast live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on NBC beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 30, and later that evening, the Coca-Cola 600 is set to be broadcast live from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Fox beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET. Jones and Fittipaldi qualified in 11th and 13th place, respectively, for the former.