Trouble is brewing. Remember how Chase Elliott broke his leg while snowboarding last year? The injury sidelined him for six races. Well, David Malukas injured his wrist in a mountain bike crash on February 11 and required surgery right before the racing season kicked off on March 10. This has created a 2.0 version of Chase Elloitt’s accident. And as Arrow McLaren reshuffles its lineup for the rest of the 2024 season, it confirms the release of No. 6 from the team.
Additionally, as Jenna Fryer confirmed, Kyle Busch might step in and take on the double-duty challenge, just like his brother Kurt Busch did before him. It’s a tough break for Malukas, but it could open a stimulating journey for Kyle Busch. But did you know that to date, only four drivers have attempted double duty, and out of all, Tony Stewart is the only driver to complete all 1,100 miles of both races on the same day?
Can Kyle Busch pull off double duty alongside Kyle Larson?
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Arrow McLaren has called Callum Ilott and Theo Pourchaire to fill in while David Malukas is out. Ilott’s been at the helm since the season kicked off in St. Petersburg and even took a spin at the Indy 500 Open Test. But we should not count Kyle Busch out just yet. Who knows if he chats about it with his boss, Richard Childress, he could be the one replacing David Malukas.
The nascarman page on X shared a screenshot of journalist Adam Stern’s post that read, “McLaren “is in serious conversation about running a fourth Indianapolis 500 entry for NASCAR star Kyle Busch” with sponsorship potentially from Menards, per JennaFryer.”
Kyle Busch has got it in his blood! Remember the last time someone did double duty? It was Kurt Busch in 2014 where he finished P6 and was the fastest rookie. And now, his brother, Kyle, might just snag a seat similar to how Rick Hendrick arranged for Kyle Larson. Do you think Larson inspired him?
Last year, when Busch heard about Larson’s double-duty plans, he mentioned he’d love to take a shot at the Indy 500 himself. He then shared his thoughts with IndyCar about not getting to test the waters himself yet. Kyle Busch mentioned, “I’ve kind of always said I’d love to give it a shot and have that opportunity to be able to get out there. Obviously… Indy road course is vastly different than the oval, but still to get my hands and feet and everything else behind the wheel and maybe go make some laps would certainly be neat.”
Oh man, there's a good Indy 500 ride suddenly available. Call Kyle Busch, you know you want to https://t.co/vfUdYLrkX2 pic.twitter.com/1X5cM6ZaUa
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) April 29, 2024
Well, this could be Busch’s shot at living the dream. Many say Kyle’s the better wheelman between the brothers, so if he gets this chance, he might just smash it. But after Dover, it seems like he’s just itching to get back to regular racing.
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It was a solid weekend for Kyle Busch, the Richard Childress Racing driver, who started in P1 and wrapped up in P4, bagged a top-5 finish. And now he’s craving more days like these. In the post-race chat, Busch reflected on his Dover race, saying, “A good day for the #8 car, a good solid points day, I guess. That’s a normal day. I’d love to have a lot more normal days; we just can’t seem to get any.”
“The car was pretty decent. I felt like if we came off of pit road there at the end with the clean racetrack the way that it was, and being able to just charge forward [to] try to catch these leaders, that was probably going to be our best bet to try to run them down and race with them. But definitely had a third-place car today.”
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That finish also bumped Kyle Busch up six spots in the driver standings to P11, now with 275 points. If he can keep racking up “normal days” like this, he’ll indeed be breaking into the top 5 of the standings in no time. And it seems like he can do so. Busch holds two wins, ten top-5s, and 15 top-10s in 32 career starts at Kansas Speedway. That’s the same track the Cup Series deals with next on May 5.
However, consistency is key here. The driver and his team will look forward to keeping a high momentum.