NASCAR's Christopher Bell Is Interested In An Indy 500 Run, But One Condition
This year saw NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson attempt the Double by racing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. This put the challenge on a lot of other drivers' radar, and that includes Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell.
But only on one condition…
Bell spoke to the media and was asked if he would ever consider pulling double duty if Toyota — the manufacturer that JGR works with — were to make a foray into IndyCar.
"Yeah, for sure. If Toyota was interested in that, I would be raising my hand to do it," Bell said, per First Sportz. "They haven’t been (just) a huge part of my career, they have been my career.
"They have literally taken me from childhood semi-professional or amateur racing all the way to the Cup Series so I would love that. I would love if they would do it, and I'd be the first one to raise my hand to do it."
Alright, for the sake of more drivers pulling double-duty — the coolest single-day feat in all of sports — we need Toyota to get in on IndyCar.
It can be tricky to set up the double-duty bids, but it can be easier when there's a common manufacturer involved. That was the case for Kyle Larson as the Chevrolet connection between Hendrick Motorsports and Arrow McLaren helped make it happen.
However, in IndyCar, there are only two manufacturers: Chevrolet and Honda.
A big story in IndyCar for years has been the long-running battle to add a third engine manufacturer to the series, and Toyota is usually the name that comes up the most.
Toyota has a big presence in sports car racing, rally racing, and even Japan's Super Formula series which is an open-wheel single-seater series like IndyCar.
I don't think the prospect of someone like Christopher Bell doing the Double will coax Toyota into Indy (it would if I was in charge… I'm not though), but if it happens, it'd be a nice bonus.