Kyle Busch takes a backseat to Tony Kanaan for IndyCar ridealong at the Brickyard
INDIANAPOLIS – Race drivers probably don’t make good ‘backseat drivers’ especially when someone else is behind the wheel.
That was the role two-time NASCAR Cups Series champion and two-time Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Busch found himself Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Richard Childress Racing driver with 63 career NASCAR Cup Series wins was strapped into the backseat of a modified IndyCar, a two-seater known as the Ruoff Mortgage “Fastest Seat in Sports. He went for a ride around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2004 NTT IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan as the driver.
Ten years ago, the same combination went on a two-seater ride at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the oval. On Friday, after IndyCar Series qualifying for the Gallagher Grand Prix, the two racing legends reprised their roles on the IMS road course.
Kanaan completed the final IndyCar Series race of his career in the 107th Indy 500 on May 28. Busch will hit the track Saturday morning for practice and qualifying for Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard in the No. 8 Chevrolet for RCR.
The duo went for an out lap and then a fast lap before coming back into the pits.
“Did you guys miss the announcement?” Kanaan said after he got out of the car. “Kyle Busch and I are racing at the Indianapolis 500 next year in this car.”
Kyle Busch quipped, “It will be the 34th car.”
Of course, the Indianapolis 500 features a 33-car starting lineup, not 34.
“Kyle will drive 250 miles and I’ll driver 250,” Kanaan said.
After the two joked, NBC Sports asked Busch if he was a good backseat driver?
“I thought it was a fun ride,” Busch said. “These cars are a bit different than the real thing, but it gives you a good sense of G forces and cornering capabilities and things like that. It was pretty cool.
“Had a great time today. Thanks to Tony for putting us out on the Indy road course and giving us a real ride of what it is like to get around here. Pretty cool capabilities of the car and what it is capable of, different than the Cup cars with braking points and G-loads through the corners, but I’ll still take my acceleration over the Indy car’s acceleration.”
Busch’s NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet has 750 horsepower, but the IndyCar has a much higher top-end speed and is much lighter.
Busch wants to run the Indianapolis 500 someday, but the possibility is “nonexistent" for next year.
“I’m definitely hoping to do it, it’s just a matter of making something happen,” Busch told NBC Sports. “There are not enough teams out there to do it and do it the right way.
“I’m sure they could give me a test. I haven’t asked for one, but I think it would be feasible.”
NBC Sports asked Kanaan how he thinks Busch would do in the Indianapolis 500?
“C’mon,” Kanaan said. “I’m a big Kyle Busch fan in everything he has driven. He has proven one more time, including a few weeks ago, how good he is. I’m glad I’m retired when he comes so I won’t have to face him.
“It would be awesome.
“It was a lot of fun to do this, but it’s not the real thing. I’ll be a big fan of Kyle when he does it.”
Busch said, “Kyle will be my driver coach when I come to the Indianapolis 500. He’s won it before so I’m sure he has some good pointers what it takes to get around here.
“It’s been a while since I’ve turned left around here.”
Busch was referring to the fact the NASCAR Cup Series drivers have not raced on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval since the 2020 Brickyard 400. Since 2021, NASCAR Cup Series has competed on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
Busch is one of the many drivers that looks forward to a return to the oval, presumably as early as 2024.
Kanaan can relate to the experience of being in the back of the two-seater with another famous driver behind the wheel.
“I’ve been in the back of that car with Mario Andretti and Marco Andretti,” Kanaan said. “It was fun. Kyle wouldn’t want it any different so I drove as fast as I could, 100 percent.
“We both could have gone a little quicker, but it’s not the real car.”
Kanaan believes Busch is a real race car driver because he wants to drive anything, anytime, any day.
“That’s been me my entire life,” Kanaan said. “Kyle is no different. Knowing him, he is going to try as hard as he can before he retires to do the Indianapolis 500.
“I’ll be his driving coach, but he doesn’t really need any coaching. He’s a great driver already.”
Busch would like to return the favor and give Kanaan a ride in his NASCAR Cup Series car. Stay tuned for that possibility.
“Tony and I have been friends for a long, long time,” Busch said. “When we did this at Las Vegas 12 years ago, I actually got to get behind the wheel and drive an IndyCar.
“I’d love to give it a shot and get out there on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. To roll around here on the Indy road course is vastly different than the oval, but to get my feet and hands and everything in the Indy car, it’s been pretty neat.”
Busch has enjoyed the IndyCar-NASCAR Crossover Weekend, which will likely go away after this year when the schedule is announced. NASCAR Cup Series is expected to return to the oval in 2024, and IndyCar is expected to take this race away from IMS and transfer the slot to The Milwaukee Mile.
The IndyCar/NASCAR Weekend was borne out of necessity in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. IndyCar needed races, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway served as a platform to help the series achieve a 14-race schedule after many venues had been shut down.
NASCAR and IndyCar now are in their fourth consecutive year of sharing a summer race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“It’s really cool and it’s really fun to have the two paddocks in the garage area be so close to each other and the comradery with some of the IndyCar drivers,” Busch said. “I’m friends with a few of the IndyCar drivers, mainly Josef Newgarden.
“I watch NHRA. I watch IndyCar. I watch Off-Road when I can. It’s neat to get to know those guys. Running in SRX this year has helped that, too.”
Pressure was on https://t.co/Aus55TTZ0M
— Tony Kanaan (@TonyKanaan) August 11, 2023
Busch has already won two Brickyard 400s and could be the first NASCAR driver to win on both the oval and road course if he wins Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
“That would be cool, that would be great,” Busch said. “I’ve won here at this specific location, this address before, but I don’t have the road course trophy, so that would be nice to get.”
Busch is also driving for the defending winning team as Tyler Reddick drove the No. 8 Chevrolet to victory in last year’s Verizon 200.
“I feel the pressure,” Busch said. “The team I’m with, the No. 8 car with Tyler Reddick, did a good job last year and I hope to do the same.
“But they are doing a Goodyear test on the oval here on Monday, but until they announce a return to the oval, we can all just hope.”
