INDIANAPOLIS — Sage Karam will be back in an NTT IndyCar Series machine this May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That was announced almost a month ago. The Pennsylvania native will attempt to qualify for his ninth Indianapolis 500 in the familiar No. 24 Chevrolet for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

But, that’s not all the racing that Karam will do in 2022. Karam, 26, unveiled more plans for his upcoming racing season on Thursday afternoon, that he’ll join Alpha Prime Racing for select races during the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities that 2021 provided and am equally as excited to join Alpha Prime Racing for 2022,” said Karam via a team release.

“I can’t thank Tommy Joe Martins enough for his trust and confidence heading into this season. I welcome the opportunity to learn from him and his team and look forward to competing against some of the toughest competition in motorsports.”

He’ll pilot the No. 45 Chevrolet starting in March at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“As competitive as the Xfinity Series field is going to be this year, it’s even more important to our team to bring in talented drivers like Sage,” said Tommy Joe Martins, co-owner of Alpha Prime Racing. “Sage is a top-level racecar driver with a history of success in everything he’s ever driven. We can’t wait to work with him.”

Ryan Ellis will join Karam at APR, with additional details on the organization’s driver lineup being announced at a later date.

Karam, made his first NASCAR start last August on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He ran there then at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway to close out the year with Jordan Anderson Racing. He also made an appearance in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with JAR in Martinsville too.

He was competitive in all despite never having driven a stock car before as well as going into most races without practice and/or qualifying.

He’s a hell of a talent but unfortunately has been relegated to an Indy only entry the last several years despite having the talent to compete in an open wheel car full time. After an impressive debut as a high school senior for the 2014 Indy 500, it led him to a brief stint with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2015. That unfortunately was just a one year opportunity which left him searching for a full time ride in the series ever since.

2016, 2017 and 2018 his only rides were in the Indy 500. For 2019, it started off as Indy only but he made brief appearances with Carlin for two races, one in Iowa and the other in Toronto.

2020 saw him race for DRR in all three Indy road course races as well as the ‘500 with last year being Indy only again. That left him looking outside of INDYCAR and landing in NASCAR.

As to why NASCAR, he told me here in an exclusive interview last year.

Alpha Prime Racing is a NASCAR Xfinity Series team headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina. Team owners Tommy Joe Martins and Cesar Bacarella will field two full-time cars in 2022.