It’s not new for a NASCAR driver to try their hands at IndyCar. As Kyle Larson looks forward to setting out on his IndyCar venture in 2024 with the Hendrick 1100, Team Penske star and 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney also wants to try his luck with the turbo V6 engine.
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When Ryan Blaney expressed his interest in racing an IndyCar, his boss Roger Penske was taken aback. He wasn’t expecting it at all. However, that doesn’t mean Penske is not considering it at all.
During his Thursday media availability, the #12 Ford star revealed that his interest in the dual endeavor was genuine. He said, “Honestly, it’s something I’ve bounced around in my mind for a couple years, something I feel like if you could do the double, that’s cool.”
“Larson’s doing it next year. That’s going to be great. Yeah, I’ve poked around that idea with RP for a couple years now, and I might have to bring it back up. So we’ll see where that goes,” he added.
Kyle Larson’s double-duty venture in both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in 2024 has made a significant impact on the minds of his contemporaries. Interestingly, Hendrick had approached Penske about an Indy bid for Larson in one of his Fords years ago. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible back then.
Nevertheless, Penske applauds Rick Hendrick’s tie-up with Arrow Mclaren for the upcoming season. “I think that his skill and his fan base in the Midwest (are) amazing,” said Penske. “And he went out there, did his rookie tests, just bang, bang, bang.”
“And I think that look, Kurt Busch has run there and you think about the other people that have come from Formula One — Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill, other people and Nigel Mansell — have been successful there. I think that he comes with a tremendous amount of talent, and it’s something that he wants to do,” he admitted.
Ryan Blaney strives to follow in the footsteps of Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch
It’s not just Kyle Larson or Ryan Blaney who are so fixated on this rare racing double of the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. Veteran racer Kurt Busch and Hall of Famer Tony Stewart have done it too.
Back in 2014, after making a strong P6 finish in his first Indianapolis 500, Kurt Busch stepped out of his #26 machine and exchanged a few congratulatory handshakes. But not for long. His work was just half finished. The Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte awaited as Busch set out to conquer it too.
This racing double had been aced by just three other drivers to this day- Robby Gordon, John Andretti, and Tony Stewart. However, it is Smoke alone, who has completed all the laps in both races and finished 6th at Indy and 3rd at Charlotte in 2001.
