SONOMA, Calif. – Kyle Larson’s nightmare regarding the trickle-down from his attempt to complete the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 double is over.
On Tuesday, NASCAR granted a waiver request from Hendrick Motorsports to keep Larson eligible for the Cup Series playoffs despite the fact he missed the Coca-Cola 600.
When weather forced a four-hour delay to the start of the Indianapolis 500, Larson faced a conundrum. He, along with HMS, decided to stay in Indy rather than jet back to Charlotte for his Cup Series duties.
The 2021 Cup Series champion finished 18th at IMS after a pit-road speeding penalty. Minutes following the race, Larson began his journey to Charlotte Motor Speedway to relieve Justin Allgaier in his No. 5 Chevrolet. But as he landed at CMS, the race was red flagged for storms after 249 laps and never resumed.
Rather than NASCAR deciding on a waiver immediately following Charlotte, it waited until after World Wide Technology Raceway.
That gave NASCAR officials more time to weigh the decision.
“There’s definitely relief on my end, even though I really wasn’t paying a ton of attention to it,” Larson said in a press conference on Saturday. “Now knowing that I do, personally, get to race for a championship feels good. Yeah, I mean I know there was a lot that went into it on NASCAR’s end; a lot of discussion and just wanting it to be right.
“I think we all, probably even them, figured we would get the waiver. I think they were just trying to make sure they had all their ducks in a row first. I’m appreciative of it, for sure. Look forward to getting through this weekend and, hopefully, after this press conference, not have to talk about waivers again.”
Larson stayed out of the application process, turning it over to team executives such as owner Rick Hendrick, Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon and Vice President of Competition Chad Knaus.
“I didn’t really know if there was anything I could say,” Larson said. “I’m pretty bad with words sometimes, so maybe I could have just dug myself a hole a little bit if I was to communicate.”
“I cared (about the driver’s championship). But the thing that I cared most about was the owner’s championship, at least in that moment, because that’s what pays the bills. So that’s kind of where I was coming from there.
“I was a little less stressed out about it than I think what everybody would imagine you to be. But yeah, I’m just happy that if I do win the championship now, I can have my name on the record books.”
Larson dropped from first to third in driver’s points by missing Charlotte but jumped back up to second after a top-10 finish at World Wide Technology Raceway. He trails Denny Hamlin by 21 for the lead.
Larson owns 17 playoff points and could gain 15 more if he ends up winning the regular season title, not counting any additional victories and stage wins.
“I’m just thankful that we don’t have to deal with it again,” he said. “I’m happy to get to race for a championship.”