INDIANAPOLIS -- Kyle Busch wanted to race in the Indianapolis 500. He just couldn't get permission.
The 2015 NASCAR Cup champion said between practices Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that he had everything sold, as far as sponsorship is concerned, to compete in the May race.
"I had it done last [time], sold and everything ready to go, and I've got a boss that said, 'No,'" Busch said.
Busch wouldn't say specifically who he meant by "boss," but the person who would approve whether he can run outside of NASCAR would be his team owner, Joe Gibbs.
"The biggest thing that scares my boss is that I've never driven those cars," Busch said. "A Cup car or an Xfinity car or a truck or something like that, I know what to feel and how to feel and when something bad starts to happen, I can straighten it out or normally I can try to fix it. ... That's probably the biggest fear, is just not knowing what those cars do when you get in a bad situation."
Busch's older brother, Kurt, has driven both the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Cup race at Charlotte on the same day, in 2014. Robby Gordon, John Andretti and Tony Stewart also have done the double. Fernando Alonso, a two-time world champion in Formula One, crossed over to drive in the Indy 500 this year.
"I thought I had a great opportunity to do it," Busch said. "I'm kind of glad it didn't come together because Alonso kind of stole the headlines."
"There may be more [times] in the future, guys coming over to run that race," Busch added, "so I may have to split the limelight with somebody else who kind of wants to do that race. It would be fun. It would be a unique opportunity."
The NASCAR Cup race at the Brickyard will take place Sunday afternoon.