It’s about time they put an end to this discussion.
Over the past week, one of the hot topics in NASCAR has been: Should Kyle Larson be in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs this year?
That may sound like a stupid question considering he’s already won two races this year, is sitting in 3rd place in the points standings, and is generally considered one of the best – if not THE best – drivers in the sport.
But for the last week, he wasn’t in the playoffs.
While the current points system is basically “win and you’re in,” NASCAR rules also state that for a driver to be eligible for the playoffs, they have to attempt to start every race of the regular season. And Larson didn’t start the Coca-Cola 600 after choosing to stay in Indianapolis to run the rain-delayed Indy 500, causing him to miss the start of the NASCAR race at Charlotte. (He flew back after the race and attempted to get in the car, but the race would ultimately be shortened due to rain so by the time Larson got on the track, he didn’t have a chance to get behind the wheel).
Of course NASCAR has made all kinds of exceptions and granted waivers to drivers over the years. Just last year, Chase Elliott was granted a waiver last year not only after breaking his leg in a snowboarding accident, but he was given a second waiver after being suspended for wrecking Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600. In fact, Kyle Busch won the 2015 Cup Series championship after missing the first 11 races of the season due to an injury in an Xfinity Series race before the Daytona 500.
Hell, back in 2013 NASCAR even added Jeff Gordon to the playoffs when he didn’t qualify, after a controversy involving Clint Bowyer intentionally spinning out to help his teammate secure a position in what was then known as the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
So yeah, NASCAR is usually pretty quick to hand out waivers.
But for some reason, they drug their feet on giving Larson his waiver, causing him to have to race this past weekend in St. Louis without knowing whether he was even competing for a championship.
Now, conventional wisdom was that NASCAR was always going to eventually grant him a waiver: As one of the sport’s most popular drivers, does NASCAR really want to keep him out of the playoffs and piss off fans?
But there were some who argued that because Larson voluntarily missed the start of the Coke 600 to drive in a race in another series (even if it was because the Indy 500 was delayed), he shouldn’t be granted a waiver by NASCAR.
There was plenty of debate around the topic, but NASCAR put an end to it today when they finally announced that the driver of the #5 car had been granted a playoff waiver and would remain eligible for the championship.
In an interview after the decision was announced, NASCAR VP Elton Sawyer called the decision “uncharted waters,” given that Kyle (or his team) made the decision not to start the race, versus the other circumstances where drivers were either injured or suspended. But ultimately, he says he doesn’t think it would be fair to fans to not be able to see Larson compete for a championship:
“To not have Kyle Larson in our playoff and give our fans the opportunity the chance to see him race for a championship…at the end of the day, that didn’t feel like that was the right decision for us to make. We didn’t.”
He also says the fact that Larson made every attempt to get to the race and get in the car played a part in their decision to grant the waiver:
“Although we had the inclement weather in Indy as well as Charlotte, Kyle made every attempt to get to Charlotte. He was standing in the pit box with his helmet on ready to go.
And unfortunately we had weather in Charlotte as well and we weren’t fortunate enough to get the race going again. So that’s how we landed at our decision.”
Obviously it was the right decision, especially since NASCAR has played pretty fast and loose with their waivers in the past and would be penalizing one of the sport’s biggest drivers for bringing even more attention to the sport by attempting to complete the double.
And Hendrick Motorsports was obviously pleased with NASCAR’s decision, releasing a statement from team owner Rick Hendrick applauding them for getting this one right:
Statement from Rick Hendrick: pic.twitter.com/DNBzXrRiTo
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 4, 2024
Honestly the whole discourse was just an unnecessary distraction, but good for NASCAR for getting it right and getting it over with.
