Ganassi Racing has talked to Busch about Indy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Chip Ganassi Racing has had a preliminary discussion with Kurt Busch about running the Indianapolis 500.

“I’ve talked to him,” Ganassi team President Steve Lauletta said Tuesday. “I don’t know if it’s going to work for us. We haven’t gotten to a point where we know if we can run a fifth car for the Indy 500. If we did that, then we’d be able to have a more detailed conversation. But we haven’t made that decision yet.”

Busch put his chances Monday at “70 percent” at running the 500 this year. He said his options were Andretti Autosport and one other team he declined to identify.

Busch said his first choice would be to partner with Andretti because he tested with the team last season. He completed the Indy 500 rookie orientation program with Andretti, but IndyCar officials said Tuesday that Busch would likely need to pass the final two phases again as a refresher if he were to compete in the 500.

Busch drives a Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR, and Andretti fields Hondas in IndyCar. Busch said he did not think there was a conflict with him driving for a competing manufacturer, but a Chevrolet official said Tuesday it would be their first choice for Busch to drive for a General Motors team.

Ganassi fields Chevys in both NASCAR and IndyCar.