Kyle Busch reveals he lost Indy 500 McLaren drive to Kyle Larson

He’s already a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion with over 200 wins across the three national divisions of the sport, but there are two things Kyle Busch has yet to accomplish that remain at the very top of his bucket list. The first is winning the Daytona 500, which he is currently 0-20 in attempting to achieve. However, number two on that list is competing in the Indianapolis 500, which has yet to happen.

His older brother Kurt did the 500 in 2014, driving for Andretti and earning Rookie of the Year honors with a seventh-place finish. Kyle tried to get his foot into the door for the 500 a few years ago, but the deal was blocked by team owner Joe Gibbs.

He revealed this in a discussion with fellow Cup star Denny Hamlin on his weekly podcast, Actions Detrimental.

2017 deal blocked by Gibbs

“It was all done,” said Busch. “M&M’s was gonna do it. Guess who said no?” Hamlin correctly named Joe Gibbs, who has been hesitant to allow his drivers to run races beyond the scope of NASCAR in the past. Busch has since left Joe Gibbs Racing and apparently tried to secure an Indy 500 ride again in 2024, but these plans also never came to fruition.

In this second attempt, Busch was trying to work something out with Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren. Apparently, the deal was practically done before it fell apart.

Why 2024 deal with McLaren failed

“I had it signed, sealed and delivered again, and then Larson took it,” revealed Busch.

Explaining it further, Busch said: “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.'”

As for why Brown wanted to go this route, Busch said that it was in case he ended up wrecking and damaging the tub. Hamlin wondered why they didn’t just add a crash clause, but nonetheless, this is where negotiations stalled.

Busch continued: “It wasn’t two weeks later that I’m talking to this sponsor guy, and he was like, ‘Yeah, we’re too late anyway now. The opportunity is closed because Larson got it.'” 

Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Larson’s two-year deal was news to Busch, who was only planning to do a single attempt. He stated that running the Indy 500 remains a top priority for him, but the possibilities are limited if you want to be with a competitive team.

He pointed to Penske as the best option for running the 500, and even spoke with Roger Penske about it at some point. “We were talking to Roger,” revealed Busch. “The sponsor is close to Roger and we were talking to Roger about doing it and he says ‘I can’t get you the right people to be able to do another car.'”

You can hear the rest of the fascinating 80-minute discussion between Busch and Hamlin HERE.