NASCAR: 5 Cup drivers who could race the Indy 500
By Randy Smith
NASCAR candidates for Indy 500: No. 2 – Kurt Busch
Kurt Busch wouldn’t be a stranger into trying his hand at both events, having run the Memorial Day Double in 2014 and becoming the fourth driver to do so. After finishing in sixth place in the Indy 500 for Andretti Autosport, Busch was the race’s Rookie of the Year. But a blown engine in the Coca-Cola 600 prevented him from completing all 1,100 miles.
But the lack of completion wouldn’t stop him from attempting it yet again.
“I do like it enough to do it again,” Busch said in 2014 of the Indy 500 after touching down in Charlotte for NASCAR’s crown jewel event.
While thoughts can certainly change eight years later, the ambition of a racer might not.
Busch still finds himself as a threat in just about any NASCAR race, and he has now earned at least one win in each of the last nine seasons, with his most recent win coming at Kansas Speedway earlier this month.
While retirement rumors surrounded Busch’s career before he joined his current NASCAR team in 23XI Racing, the Las Vegas, Nevada native shows that he still has what it takes to compete on any level.
A sixth place finish in an open-wheel car and a top finish of fifth at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a stock car shows that Busch could replicate his 2014 success. A fight for redemption, and a desire to drive all 1,100 miles, could lure Busch back to the Indy 500.