Andretti set for Indy double duty.

NASCAR Nextel Cup driver John Andretti is working on a deal to race twice at Indianapolis in 2004 - combining a NASCAR run in the Brickyard 400 in August with a return to the famed Indianapolis 500, now a round of the Indy Racing League, on May 30.

If the bid comes off it will be the second double involving Indianapolis for Andretti, who 10 years ago became the first driver to race in both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on the same day. Only Robbie Gordon and Tony Stewart have done the 1100-mile double duty since.

Andretti, the nephew of motorsport great Mario Andretti, is tacking on a partial Nextel Cup programme for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated this season, having raced in two of the five rounds held so far. He has not revealed who he is talking to about an IRL drive at Indianapolis. The 1994 double was the last time he raced in the Memorial Day classic, his seventh Indy start four of which have brought him top 10 finishes.

"I've taken the first step," Andretti said of his Indy plans. "Every year I've had an opportunity to come back. Now I can do it. I want to see where everything sets. I want to do it right.

The 41-year old added that Indianapolis remained important to him. "(The Indy 500) has never fallen off my radar screen, and it never will. It's the Indy 500. Good, bad or indifferent, I can't wait for it to come around. It's been a part of my life."