After a weeklong discussion amongst top officials, Kyle Larson is back in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs picture after Tuesday’s decision from the sanctioning body restored his eligibility despite missing the Coca-Cola 600.
Larson’s absence was a product of his inaugural attempt of “The Double,” trying to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coke 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the same day.
Inclement weather in both Indianapolis and Charlotte derailed those efforts, however. Larson chose to stay in Indy to begin the 500-mile affair despite its four-hour rain delay and completed the full 200-lap race with an 18th-place finish in his IndyCar debut, ultimately opting to miss the start of the Coke 600.
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Therein laid the crux of what became a difficult decision for NASCAR officials to determine. The NASCAR Rule Book covers postseason eligibility in Section 12.3.2.1.A, which states: “Unless otherwise authorized by NASCAR, driver(s) and Team Owner(s) must start all Championship Events of the current season to be eligible for The Playoffs. If a starting position was not earned, then the driver(s) and Team Owner(s) must have attempted to Qualify, at the discretion of the Series Managing Director, for the Race.”
Larson entered the Charlotte weekend atop the regular-season points standings and otherwise clinched his spot in the playoffs by winning twice already this season.
“This was without a doubt uncharted waters for us,” Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, said in a Tuesday teleconference.
Despite difficult circumstances, NASCAR ultimately decided to grant Larson exemption from the above rule to compete in this year’s postseason hunt. Sawyer credited leadership from John Probst, NASCAR’s chief racing development officer.
“We stayed the course,” Sawyer said of the decision-making process. “We had our internal meetings. We had more internal meetings. We continued to have dialogue around it. And then the other part of it is in front of us was a race at World Wide Technology raceway that (we were) all getting prepared for. So again, the number one thing was to get to the right decision, take the time. We felt like the time that it took was the right amount of time to get to the right decision.”
Waivers have previously been granted to competitors who either missed races due to injuries or suspensions from NASCAR-sanctioned events. What complicated matters this time, Sawyer said, was “we had a driver miss one of our races, a championship event, to be at another event.
“One of the reasons (the waiver is) in place is to give our fans some certainty that if they buy a ticket to come and watch our athletes and our stars perform, that they’re going to see them,” Sawyer said. “So the prior precedent that was set with allowing waivers, those were quick decisions, as I said earlier. This one was unique in the fact that obviously Kyle raced with another series and wasn’t there to start our event.”
Why Larson will still be able to compete for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship comes down to the effort he and Hendrick Motorsports made to show up to compete in Charlotte one way or another.
Larson practiced and qualified his No. 5 Chevrolet on May 25, placing 10th on the provisional starting grid, before flying back to Indianapolis that night for the Indy 500 on May 26. After completing the 500, Larson and Hendrick personnel flew back to Concord, North Carolina, where Larson literally ran back to his NASCAR team’s pit box in his fresh fire suit, strapped on his helmet and prepared to relieve backup driver turned starter Justin Allgaier behind the wheel.
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That swap never happened, though. Lightning and rain overtook the Charlotte oval, eventually ending the race prematurely with 151 laps still on the board.
“All communication with HMS was (Charlotte) was their priority. That was their day job,” Sawyer said. “And unfortunately, the weather situation threw them a curveball, threw the industry a curveball and was something that we had to deal with. But ultimately, the effort that they made — without the weather, they were going to be there. We feel confident that was going to happen.
“To not have Kyle Larson in our playoff and give our fans the opportunity to see him race for a championship … at the end of the day didn’t feel like that’s the right decision for us to make. And we didn’t. We felt like we got to the right spot.”
Sawyer added “everything was on the table” as officials determined the best ways to move forward, which may have included options to penalize Larson for missing a Cup Series event.
“But if you look at the rule book,” he said, “the two options were grant it or not to grant it. And anything in between that or outside of that would have been us digging deep into the rule book to do something that just didn’t feel right.”
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Sawyer also pointed to the points Larson lost by simply not participating in the event, leaving what could have been a 70-point day by the wayside — 40 points for winning and 10 points per stage win (three available in the Coke 600). Additionally, eight playoff points were at stake: five for winning the race and one each per stage win. Larson is also in contention for the Regular Season Championship, which would give the 2021 champion a boost of 15 playoff points to carry with him through the playoffs.
His decision to miss the Coke 600 could ultimately have cost him 23 potential playoff points — 15 if he fails to win the regular-season title, and eight from the Coke 600.
“Time will tell if those potential 23 points that were on the table that they didn’t get, how that will unfold as we go through the playoffs,” Sawyer said. “So there was a point penalty for him, and we don’t feel like from our side that any other additional penalty or any type of asterisk beside it would have been the right way moving forward.”
NASCAR officials also want to see drivers continue to attempt and complete the Indy-Charlotte double, Larson or otherwise.
“Obviously, the Coke 600 is a huge race for us, as well,” Sawyer said. “But if we look in motorsports in general, the Indy 500 is a big event. We embrace the double. We think it’s great. We want to see other drivers have that opportunity. So we have to just make sure that we’re looking out, first and foremost, for the fans that again buy the ticket that were here in Charlotte. And it felt like Kyle and the team gave every effort to be able to get here. He was ready to go and had his helmet on. And unfortunately, we were not able to get going and get him back in the car.
“I know it’s a little bit of a cliche, but every situation is different. And I feel like that we had the parameters in our rule book and the team here at the R&D Center to ultimately make the best decision and that’s what we were hired to do.”