IRL Andretti, Unser Jr. decline Texas offer

The legendary drivers said they didn't have the time or the resources.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. couldn't be lured to race in Texas.
Texas Motor Speedway officials were hoping they could get Andretti and Unser, who both came out of retirement to race in the Indianapolis 500 last weekend, to drive in their IndyCar Series race June 10. But teams for both drivers turned down a sponsorship offer, track president Eddie Gossage said Wednesday.
"We would have very much liked to have both of these Indy car legends run here, but we understand and respect their decision," Gossage said.
Andretti Green Racing and Dreyer & amp; Reinbold Racing, for which Unser drove a second car at Indianapolis, cited a lack of proper preparation time and exhausted resources, TMS officials said.
"They gave it thoughtful consideration," Gossage said. "But coming on the heels of an exhausting month at Indy, there just wasn't the time to make it work properly."
Andretti finished third, while his 19-year-old son, Marco, finished second to Sam Hornish Jr. in the second-closest Indianapolis 500 ever. Unser, whose last Indy car victory was at Texas in June 2003, was 24th.
Big offer
Gossage offered a $100,000 sponsorship fee if Andretti and/or Unser would drive in the Bombardier Learjet 500k. Had both accepted the offer, each driver's team would have gotten $50,000.
"Had we been given a few months to work on this, we may have been able to make it work," said Kevin Savoree, part of the ownership team for Andretti Green, which has four full-time cars. "There just isn't sufficient time to prepare and plan."
Robbie Buhl, team owner of Dreyer & amp; Reinbold, said his one-car team isn't in position to prepare a second car for Texas.
"We can't afford to take anything away from the preparation we have committed to support our regular driver, Buddy Lazier," Buhl said. "We talked with some additional sponsors, but we simply could not put things in place to run Al at Texas properly."
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