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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — One NASCAR championship has been lost and Ryan Blaney already has his eyes on another prize.
Roger Penske said Thursday that NASCAR’s defending Cup champion had inquired about someday running “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” but “The Captain” slammed the brakes.
“It’s interesting to me that Blaney told me he’s considering going to Indy,” Penske said Thursday before Blaney and Team Penske were crowned Cup champions. “I said we need to slow down a little. We’re going to get everybody to come to Indy.”
Kyle Larson will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 this May and become the first driver since Kurt Busch in 2014 to attempt to complete both the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. Five drivers have attempted it nine times, and only Tony Stewart has completed all 1,100 miles.
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Blaney’s interest in doing the double was revealed Thursday by Penske, who said Larson team owner Rick Hendrick had contacted Penske about running Larson in the Indy 500. Penske said he declined the partnership because Team Penske first needed to improve its three-car Indy 500 effort. Hiring another driver.
Josef Newgarden won the Indy 500 last May for Penske’s 19th win in the prestigious race; Hendrik Larsson took the deal to McLaren, who would field a car for Larsson the following May.
“I’ve tossed around this idea with RP for the last couple of years, and we’ll see where it goes,” Blaney acknowledged Thursday about the Indy 500.
“I think a lot of people can’t do double duty. “It would be nice to just do that,” Blaney said. “I respect all types of motorsports. So I guess you want to experience something like that. At my age it would be absolutely the right thing to do. I think the nostalgia of it, being able to say you ran 1,100 miles in a day on the racetrack, is pretty special.”
Blaney will turn 30 on December 31.
Blaney’s interest in Indy was news to Larson, who is deeply immersed in IndyCar. But when it comes to doing the double, Larson would like to see some IndyCar drivers try NASCAR.
“I would love to see Josef Newgarden drive the Coke 600,” Larson said. “A lot of people do that on the NASCAR side, so it will be interesting to see the other side of the switch.”
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