NASCAR announced Tuesday that it would be accepting Hendrick Motorsports’ request for a waiver to make Kyle Larson eligible for the 2024 Cup Series playoffs.
Larson ultimately did not run a lap in the Coca Cola 600 held last month at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but was ready to sub into his No. 5 car after Justin Allgaier had piloted it for the first 243 laps prior to a rain delay bringing the action to a hault.
“We didn’t take it lightly,” senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said. “There was a lot of discussion internally… We ultimately landed at giving Kyle a waiver. Essentially our decision-making was, although we had the inclement weather in Indianapolis 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.”
Sawyer held a virtual availability over Zoom Tuesday in line with its official announcement, saying that the discussion was uncharted waters for NASCAR.
“This was without a doubt uncharted waters for us,” Sawyer said. “In the past those waivers have been given mostly for medical reasons. … This one was unprecedented in that we had a driver miss one of our races, a championship event, to be at another event. That’s why it took as long as it did.”
When asked if the decision was close, Sawyer said there were voices on both sides.
“There were different views from different people,” Sawyer said. Everyone had a view on it. The ultimate decision we wanted to get to was the right decision, and we feel like we got there.”
“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,” Sawyer said. “So we didn’t. We felt like we got to the right spot.”
