When Kurt Busch dabbled with practice in 2013 prior to the Indy 500, it seemed more or less a tease to NASCAR fans that the Memorial Day weekend Indy 500 / Coca Cola 600 double doesn’t exist any more.
Kurt Busch (Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images for NASCAR)
In 2014 Busch will bring it back.
Busch, a regular for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, announced Tuesday that he will compete for Andretti Autosport in the Indianapolis 500 on May 25.
The Indianapolis 500 is the same day as the Sprint Cup Series’ longest event, the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Busch will be looking to run a fifth car for Andretti as he looks to join Robby Gordon, John Andretti, and his Sprint Cup Series car owner Tony Stewart, as the only drivers to compete in both events on the same day.
“I’m a fan of motorsports, a student of motorsports, and I view this as a challenge for myself,” Busch told the Associated Press. “Memorial Day weekend, the central focus of all motorsports is Monaco, Indianapolis and Charlotte and this is a tremendous opportunity to be right in the middle of it.”
Gordon was the last driver to attempt the double in 2004. Stewart, in 2001, is the only driver to complete all 1,100 miles of both events. Stewart was sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte in 2001.
Busch completed the Indy 500 rookie orientation program last year.
Sweet news. Would be cool to see Stewart or other drivers do the same thing. But we will just have to see.
Maybe they should go back to the old schedule as having the coca cola 600 and the indy 500 on different days.There would be more drivers in my oponion trying to do the double if the time was not so close to do both. Good luck to Kurt to do well in both races