'Perfect timing' for Alonso to compete in Indy 500

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Fernando Alonso's decision to compete in this year's Indianapolis 500 has the backing of former NASCAR champion Kurt Busch.

Busch himself competed in the race in 2014 with Andretti Autosport, the same team behind Alonso's bid. Busch was the most recent driver to do 'double duty', combining the Indy 500 with the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race on the same day.

That puts the 38-year-old in an ideal position to know what challenges Alonso will face in May. But he isn't about to start dispensing any uncalled for advice to the Formula 1 world champion.

“I think he’ll be perfect for the situation," said Busch. "I think he’ll do very well. He’s a racer. He gets it.

"It’s a perfect time in his career to make the attempt at the Indy 500," said Busch.

Busch currently competes for Stewart-Haas Racing, the sister NASCAR team to the Haas F1 squad and drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.

Before his own Indy 500 bow, Busch at least had a decade of experience competing on ovals and superspeedways. He acknowledged that Alonso would be taking to the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway without any such background.

“He’ll prepare well," insisted Busch. "The Andretti group will do a fantastic job for him. They treated me really well with respect of my background. They’ll do that with his."

Alonso will get his first taste of what he's up against in a test session at IMS due on May 3 after the Russian Grand Prix.

"It’s more like a rookie orientation," added Busch.

McLaren to send small support crew to Indy for Alonso

Formal practice for the Indy 500 is held over the course of a week beginning on May 15. Qualifying is held over the weekend of May 20-21 with the race itself taking place on May 28. That's the same date as the Monaco Grand Prix, meaning Jenson Button will replace Alonso at McLaren.

“It’s hard to prepare," said Busch. "For the month of May and the amount of times you are on track, the grandstands are empty."

But that all changes on race day, with crowds reaching a quarter of a million people.

“It’s impressive to be there on Sunday. That would be my advice. It’s hard to get used to that amount of people, and the amount of pageantry and the celebration that’s going on Sunday morning.

"You come out there that Sunday morning, and you feel the Indiana natives’ respect for their track. It’s their world stage that they’re standing on for the day."

The last winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016 was another Formula 1 driver making a rookie appearance, Alexander Rossi. He was also supported in his bid by the Andretti team.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.