Supercars star Scott McLaughlin has applied for a travel exemption in an audacious bid to make his IndyCar debut less than a week after the Bathurst 1000.
The Ford ace is determined to fly to the United States and race for Team Penske in Florida, just five days after the Supercars' season finale at Mount Panorama.
The two-time defending Supercars champion, who is in the box seat to claim a third-straight title, said he had submitted an application with the Australian government to leave the country.
"It's basically up to the government if I can get out of the country or not," McLaughlin told reporters on Wednesday.
"There's a lot of things to go under the bridge in America as well, in regards to getting a team together and all that sort of stuff.
"But they're (Team Penske) seriously looking at it, and if we can physically do it, we will.
"It's up to me now and I've done the steps that I need to get across there. It's in the process now."
The 27-year-old admitted it would be a tight turnaround after the Bathurst 1000 wraps up on October 18, with the IndyCar season-finale event in St Petersburg beginning on October 23.
"Honestly, I haven't done a huge amount of research on it. It's all happened pretty quickly," McLaughlin said.
"We'll see if we can get out of here first and worry about the rest later."
McLaughlin was due to race in the US earlier this year after completing successful testing in an IndyCar, but COVID-19 halted those aspirations.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been contacted by AAP for comment about McLaughlin's application.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding international sport because of the coronavirus pandemic, the New Zealander is tipped to quit Supercars at the end of this season and race fulltime in IndyCar in 2021.
