Two weeks after Kyle Larson’s “Double” attempt went sour due to rain, which forced him to miss the Coca-Cola 600, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has been granted a playoff waiver by NASCAR.
Larson, who was attempting to contest the Indianapolis 500 and Coke 600 in the same day, did not compete in the NASCAR Cup Series race due to the Indy 500 start getting delayed.
Larson placed 18th in his first Indy 500 start with Arrow McLaren and later won rookie of the year.
JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier started the Coke 600 in place of Larson and completed all 249 laps of the event before rain halted the 600-mile race. The race was deemed official, and Allgaier was credited with a 13th-place finish. HMS applied for the exception following the event.
The NASCAR Rule Book covers 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.”
So far this year, Larson has scored two victories and is locked into the playoffs. He’s currently in the hunt for the regular season championship, where the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet sits second in the standings, 21 markers behind Denny Hamlin.