Busch wouldn’t run on Indy road course and Brickyard in same weekend

Last week NASCAR announced that the Nationwide Series along with Grand-Am cars would join the Sprint Cup cars on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Brickyard 400 weekend in 2012. Kyle Busch was the only driver to run in all three races this past weekend at Kentucky Speedway, so the question is, if the opportunity presented itself, would the younger Busch like to run in the Grand-Am race at IMS?

“I won’t drive the road course, I would get confused coming through turn one backwards. That won’t be too good,” he said with a slight smile.

The road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway starts on the front stretch before winding through the infield and shooting out on the main track near the entrance to turn two. But that’s not the only reason Busch wouldn’t want to run in the Grand-Am cars.

“I won’t run that race,” he said. “Those cars are too hot. They’re too hot. Need to be able to roll down the window or something.”

In the late July/early August heat and humidity that owns the Indianapolis weekend, I’d agree with the younger Busch. There have been times at the track where my dad, brother and I just sat and sweated through every pore in our body. And we were wearing t-shirts and shorts, not a racing fire suit. I could only imagine how hot it would be in one of those suits.

As far as it’s scheduled now, the Nationwide Series is supposed to run the regular track at Indy. If they aren’t, I haven’t seen a release saying they’ll also be running the road course. And I think it would make headlines if they were going to.

(Note: After reading and re-reading the press conference notes, I’m almost certain the Nationwide Series will run on the oval, not the road course)

Busch, who is on record saying he wouldn’t run the Grand-Am cars, confirmed that he wouldn’t run in the Nationwide Series if NASCAR decided to put their second-tier series on the road course at Indy.

“That wouldn’t be bad,” Busch said. “I don’t see anything wrong with it at all…there’s going to be some tight sections through the ‘esses,’ I guess you would call it.

“You’ll see some congestion there, but otherwise it would probably be a good event.”

And no matter how much you’d like to see Kyle Busch go through turn one backward and then forward in the same weekend at Indy, it probably won’t happen. But he’s got at least a year to be persuaded. Anyone think they can convince him?