Indy 500: Will Power would welcome Kyle Busch to Team Penske

Two-time IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power says he would welcome NASCAR’s Kyle Busch to Team Penske for the Indy 500.

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has had his eyes on running the Memorial Day Double, something last pulled off by his brother Kurt in 2014, for many years now.

But while Busch continues to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway annually as a full-time Cup driver, he has still not yet competed in the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Busch reportedly had a deal lined up to compete in the race back in 2017, but Joe Gibbs, his boss at the time, prevented him from doing so.

After Busch won his second Cup Series title in 2019, he was allowed to pursue Indy 500 opportunities, provided he did so with Chevrolet. Honda, IndyCar’s only other manufacturer, is a global rival of Toyota.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the 2020 schedule, and nothing ever came to fruition. While it’s something that Busch has been asked about multiple times since, there were never any indications about him pursuing a seat for the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in 2021 or 2022 either.

But one thing included in his new multi-year contract with Richard Childress Racing, which brings to an end his 15-year relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, is the fact that he is allowed to pursue Indy 500 opportunities, again only with Chevrolet.

The reasoning is much simpler: Richard Childress Racing is a Chevrolet team.

While they run Fords in the Cup Series, Team Penske run Chevys in the NTT IndyCar Series, and team owner Roger Penske owns a record 18 Indy 500 victories, including three since 2015.

We spoke to two-time and reigning IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power, who has been with Team Penske since 2009, about the possibility of Busch joining the Captain’s organization at some point down the road.

“Yea, I would,” Power told Beyond the Flag when asked if he would welcome the 60-time Cup Series race winner to the team for that race.

He added that he believes the addition of Busch for this race would be beneficial to IndyCar as a whole, regardless of which team were to sign him.

“It would be great to have Kyle Busch run the Indy 500,” he continued. “I think it’s good for the series and it’d just be interesting to see him in a car like that. His brother did really well, so I’d expect him to be just as good.”

Kurt Busch, who drove for Penske’s Cup team from 2006 to 2011, became the fourth driver to attempt the Memorial Day Double when he joined Andretti Autosport and drove the #26 Honda back in 2014. In his Indy 500 — and IndyCar — debut, he placed sixth and earned Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors.

Unfortunately, an engine failure in his #41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet knocked him out of the Coca-Cola 600, preventing him from becoming just the second driver to run all 1,100 miles on the same day.

Team Penske currently run three cars in IndyCar, though they have added an additional entry for the Indy 500 before. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin compete full-time for the team alongside Power.

The 107th running of the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 28, 2023.