Kyle Busch had Indy 500 ride lined up, but he wasn't allowed to run

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver who has won the last two Monster Energy Cup and Xfinity Series races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway had a ride lined up for this year’s Indianapolis 500.

That’s until the boss put his foot down.

“I had it done last year – sold and everything ready to go – and I’ve got a boss that said no,” Busch said. “Figure it out. I’ve got two bosses – ones a male and ones a female. I would certainly. I thought that I had a great opportunity to do it.”

Sharing the limelight

Given that the spotlight shone on former Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso from the moment he announced his intention to race at Indy — and throughout the entire month of May — Busch is somewhat relieved he waited to make his debut.

“I’m kind of glad it didn’t come together because of Alonso kind of stole the headlines the last time it was done,” Busch said. “But, you know, there may be more in the future guys coming over to run that race, so, you know, I may have to split the limelight if you will with somebody else that kind of wants to do that race, but I think it’d be fun.”

A "unique opportunity"

In 2014, Busch’s brother and fellow NASCAR champion, Kurt, won rookie honors in his Indianapolis 500 debut. He qualified 12th and finished sixth with Andretti Autosport.

With the younger Busch’s success at the 2.5-mile track, it’s certainly a bucket list item. But one that likely come to fruition as long as he drives at JGR. The Coach was never a big fan of Tony Stewart’s extra-curricular activities in open wheel. Clearly, his sentiment hasn’t changed.

“It’d be a unique opportunity,” Busch said. “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 or normally I can try to fix it although that didn’t quite happen one time.

“So I think that’s probably the biggest fear is just not knowing what those cars do when you get into a bad situation.”