LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) As the Indianapolis 500 draws near, the tweets starts flooding Chip Ganassi’s inbox all asking the same question: When will he enter Kyle Larson in the Indy 500?
Larson wants to run the race, and Ganassi is open to entering the budding NASCAR star. But it has to make sense for the team, driver and organization.
“I think it’s just a matter of us having the right people and the right timing, and obviously it takes sponsorship,” Ganassi said. “Every time this gets talked about, it’s in April or May. Nobody ever wants to talk about it in June or July or August when it’s time to plan for the next year.
“All these social media people want to blow you up, `Let’s do it!’ Well, it takes a little bit of planning.”
Larson is the current points leader in NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup Series, and his first win of the season came two weeks ago at Phoenix. He also has three runner-up finishes through the first six races of the year.
Ganassi said there’s no way to enter Larson for next month’s showcase race in Indy, but he’d be hesitant anyway right now.
“Nobody wants to upset what’s going on already,” Ganassi said. “So obviously we are not talking about this May, but a lot can happen between this May and next May. I also think Kyle understands he can’t just get in and push the pedals. He’s starting to understand there’s a little more to it, and I think he’s starting to enjoy himself a little more in NASCAR.”
Ganassi is an enviable position in that there’s no shortage of drivers available should he want to field a fifth car at Indianapolis. His equipment is strong and Honda makes a huge push each year to win the race.
He said that doesn’t mean that Larson isn’t “at or near the top of the list,” but that the car owner can’t snap his fingers and produce a car for Indy.
“I think Kyle understands, we have to weigh what’s good for Kyle and what’s good for the business,” Ganassi said. “If it’s a bad thing for the business, he knows that it doesn’t work. Right now there’s some other things the team needs to work on.
“If he really wants to do it, then we’ll sit down and have a talk about doing it.”
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