Andretti to face 'difficult challenge'

Michael Andretti is returning to the race he has famously never won as a driver after a three-year absence this season to race alongside his rookie son Marco.

Dutchman Luyendyk came out of his 1999-announced retirement to race in the 2001 and 2002 events, but will be watching his son Arie Luyendyk Jr attempt to qualify and race this year's race from the pitlane.

Luyendyk Sr believes that Michael will have to face the problem of worrying about his son's progress during the race, rather than focusing on his own.

"If somebody would have asked me, 'Would you like to race at Indy in the same race as your son?', I probably would say no," Luyendyk said.

"Michael might be different than I would be, but when you come in the pits and you think about what kind of change do you want to make to your car, automatically the first question comes up like, how is Arie Jr doing?

"All of a sudden you have two things to worry about, not just yourself, but your son at the same time. I think it's a very difficult task at hand that Michael will have mentally."

In Michael's first Indy 500 in 1984 he started on the second row, together with his father Mario. Michael admits that this year's event will take some adjusting to race alongside his son.

"To be that close to dad at Indianapolis starting, it was a big moment for me," said Andretti. "My first year there was pretty much a dream. Everything just seemed to really go my way. It was just so cool to see dad next to me when we were going down for the green flag and stuff. Those are moments that stick with you your whole life.

"I'm hoping that I'll be able to share some of those and have some of those memories with Marco.

"But it is a pretty big difference, to be honest with you. It's going to be a little strange. When you're out there as a rookie, you don't have to worry about him, you're just worrying about yourself.

"Now I'm definitely going to be concerned with what's going on with him. It's going to be a little bit more of a nurturing feeling out there. It's going to be a little bit of an adjustment for me, for sure."