Kyle Larson’s playoff waiver request is not heading in the direction that his team hoped for. Following Sunday’s race in Gateway Motorsports Park, NASCAR put out its official points report list with the 17 playoff points that he has secured thus far nulled out. While the sanctioning body said last week that a decision has not yet been made regarding the waiver, this could be a sign of a negative outcome.
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Hendrick Motorsports formally submitted its request for the waiver last Thursday and the promotion refused to fix a timeline on when its decision can be expected. Larson, however, isn’t too worried about how things end up. Even if he doesn’t get to race for the driver’s championship, he will still have a huge part to play in the owner’s championship.
NASCAR’s current points report lists Larson with no playoff points. Obviously he would get the playoff points he had back if he gets the waiver. pic.twitter.com/XTQONrpzl6
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 3, 2024
He said to the press in Illinois, “Thankfully, I’ve won a championship. In my eyes, I still get to compete for a championship through the owner’s points system. That’s how we all get paid. [It] would obviously be weird if I was to win the driver’s deal at the end of the year and didn’t get to have my name in the record books, but it’s already in there once. That’s kind of all that matters to me.”
He followed his words up with a tenth-place finish in the race and moved up to second on the points table. While several icons and drivers including Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch have come out in support of Larson to push NASCAR towards granting him the waiver, others aren’t very much in favor of him too.
Bubba Wallace wants Kyle Larson to be held to his choice
The key point of contention from those who don’t believe Larson ought to get the waiver is that he intentionally chose to run in the Indy 500 ahead of the Coca-Cola 600. Following Joey Logano stressing on this fact last week on SiriusXM, 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace has pitched in as well. Before the race on Sunday, former racer Kenny Wallace posed the question of whether Larson ought to get the waiver.
Does Kyle Larson deserve a waiver?@Kenny_Wallace asks Bubba Wallace & Erik Jones.
“He made a choice” pic.twitter.com/7a1QzoPjXL
— The Kenny Wallace Show (@KWallaceShow) June 2, 2024
With the crowd chanting, “Yes!” Wallace quipped, “I don’t know the thought process of who is making the decision. But he made a choice. He made the choice to run the Indy 500. Knew the weather was bad. Knew all that stuff. Made a great attempt to get there. But he made a choice. That’s all I am going to say.” It is a mystery in which direction of these opinions NASCAR will ultimately go.
