Arie Luyendyk Jr.

After reportedly going into a panic while trying to find a Bachelor to for its 22nd season, The Bachelor producers finally have their new man: race car driver Arie Luyendyk Jr., the son of two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk.

Luyendyk drove in the Indy Lights Series for eight years, notching a win in 2008 at Chicagoland Speedway. He competed in the 2006 Indy 500 and finished 28th.

Luyendyk is a familiar face in the “Bachelor” franchise. In 2012, he was the runner-up on Emily Maynard’s Bachelorette. He left the show heart-broken.

On Thursday’s episode of Good Morning America, Luyendyk told Michael Strahan he’d been in talks about becoming the Bachelor for a few years. This time, the talks proceeded so quickly he didn’t have a chance to tell his family the news before he joined Strahan on the show.

According to former Bachelor star Sean Lowe, Luyendyk was supposed to be chosen for Season 19 three years ago. But Lowe claims ABC pulled out at the last minute and chose Chris Soules instead. From People:

“They actually told Arie he was gonna be the Bachelor,” said Lowe. “They flew down, had a camera crew, filmed him telling his family he was gonna be the next Bachelor – then pulled the rug out from underneath him and made Chris the Bachelor.”

Congrats to Luyendyk, who’s 36 years old, on finally getting another chance.

[ABC]

About Jesse Kramer

Jesse is a writer and editor for The Comeback. He has also worked for SI.com and runs The Catch and Shoot, a college basketball website based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow Jesse on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer.