According to Kyle Busch, competitor Kyle Larson of the NASCAR Cup Series prevented him from competing in a race of his dreams.
After being denied a chance to compete in the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 last year due to bad weather, Larson is currently in Indianapolis for practice sessions for this year’s race.
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But before Larson intervened, Busch stated on Denny Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast that he had been planning to enter the McLaren IndyCar for the 2024 edition at the Brickyard.
It was the second time Busch was denied a run at one of the most famous races on the planet, revealing that a deal for him to drive in 2017 was ‘all done’ with M&Ms sponsoring him before his then-boss Joe Gibbs refused to let him run.
Busch: I had Indy 500 drive…but Larson took it
Speaking about his efforts to race at Indy last year, he revealed: “I had it signed, sealed and delivered again, and then Larson took it.
“I won’t release the sponsor, but I had a sponsor talking to Zak Brown. The deal was done, and we were about ready to go to contract, and Zak Brown told the sponsor ‘Hey, I need you to buy the car.’ And the sponsor was like, ‘why do I want to buy the car? I don’t need the car. I want to sponsor the car. I’m sponsoring Kyle [Busch] and he’s going to drive the car.'”
He then explained that Brown had wanted the car buyout in case of a wreck which caused major damage, although Hamlin appeared baffled that the matter wasn’t resolved with a crash clause in the deal.
“I spoke with this sponsor guy not two weeks later, and he said, ‘Yeah, we’re too late anyway now,'” Busch added. Larson got it, so the opportunity is gone.
