Juncos Racing is pushing to secure an opportunity to compete in the Indianapolis 500.



They were darlings last year after a dramatic qualifying attempt by Kyle Kaiser, piloting an all-white and sponsorless No. 32. Kaiser eliminated two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso and McLaren by 0.0019 second in the Last Row Shootout to make the field of 33.

The outing allowed the team to secure sponsorship within 24 hours to showcase during The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.



Michael Hickey Getty Images

Entering 2020, there were no expectations for the team to tackle the entirety of the 17-race IndyCar schedule. And while they may not be on hand for this week’s two-day open test at Circuit of the Americas, team owner Ricardo Juncos is—and he's hoping to finalize an opportunity to make returning to Indianapolis Motor Speedway a reality.

"The car is ready to be updated, so that's where we are," Juncos said. "We try to have our car to be ready as soon as possible for anything, any opportunity. We're still talking to drivers. We are still talking to the sponsors.

"Last year, after what we did, we started with a white car and we ended up with 15 companies, 15 different logos on the car for the race. That happened during two weeks. The problem for me is that the timing for some of the business, the deals I'm trying to put together, is taking longer than I hoped or need, but still three more weeks to go (until the start of the season).

"So, my intention today is to try to close a deal for the 500. At the moment, just be at the 500 because that's where I think we should be after what happened last year. So that's my main focus at the moment."

Michael Hickey Getty Images

While plenty of drivers are eager to find a ride for the 500, there is a strong likelihood he would retain Kaiser for the opportunity, not only for last year’s qualifying performance, but also for 2018 where he qualified 17th and was running 11th before the engine expired after 110 laps.

"Kyle is one of the drivers," Juncos said. "In fact, if I had to choose, I would choose him because of what we did. … So, I think we’ve got to do it again and see if we're going to be good."

Although much of the focus is on the Indy 500, Juncos isn’t ruling out an opportunity to contest the other races under the right circumstances.

"I mean, like, what happened in '18, we only had Kyle for three races and ... we did 12 races with three different drivers (including René Binder and Alfonso Celis Jr.)," Juncos said.

"I don't know, it all depends. I mean, I got to have the car ready as soon as possible. That's my main focus. Obviously, all the teams, IndyCar is going through a good moment. You see how many drivers and cars and teams there are, so it's good and that probably leaves us as the only option open that will probably be asked, so to speak.

"Other than the 500, maybe we can flip the car for some races. But at this point, I don't know."

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