The race week came and went without NASCAR granting a playoff waiver to Kyle Larson from missing the Coca-Cola 600. Now, he is not even listed in the points report for the playoffs.
This could mean nothing, but right now, NASCAR is acting as though Kyle Larson is not eligible for the playoffs. That doesn’t mean a decision has been made, necessarily. However, it is something to take notice of after the Enjoy Illinois 300.
Jeff Gluck of The Athleticnoticed the small omission from the points report after the race. So, at this moment in time, Larson is not eligible for the playoffs. Does that mean it stays this way? Does this mean a decision has been made?
I’m not so sure.
Now, this shouldn’t make anyone panic too much. On Monday after the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR did not have Kyle Larson listed as a playoff driver on their website’s standings page. It’s just the fact he missed the race and does not have a waiver at this time. So, he cannot be playoff-eligible until it is granted.
Think of this as more procedural than anything. Still, the longer this drags on, the more concerned Larson and his team should be. What everyone thought would be an easy decision has not turned into the debate of the season.
Personally, it feels like a no-brainer to give him this waiver. If a driver can get a waiver after being suspended for their on-track actions, then Larson deserves one here, plain and simple. I can understand if you are being a letter-of-the-law kind of person who believes it shouldn’t be granted, but NASCAR has never operated that way.
NASCAR can make any decision they feel is appropriate. That should be a waiver to Larson.
Kyle Larson explains Kyle Busch wreck after race
Now, back to what happened on the track, Kyle Larson was good today. He had a top-5 car at the beginning of the race. However, he didn’t get to show it thanks to an incident with Kyle Busch.
The two drivers got into each other, Larson got loose going into Turn 1, and then they both went up towards the wall. Busch suffered enough damage to end his day. Larson thought he had a flat, but came out unscathed.
After the race, Larson broke down what happened to lead up to that incident.
“Yeah we were coming to the end of that stage and I was a little bit better than him and left four to side-draft him and barely touched his quarter panel and I don’t know, I guess it ticked him off and he squeezed into me,” Larson said. “I honestly thought I had a flat when I turned into one because it just turned around backwards, but I guess he must have just took the air off of me and [I] spun. I’m not sure what his side of it was, but that was my side, I guess.”
Kyle Larson salvaged a top-10 finish at Gateway. Things just didn’t line up today but he made the most of it. That is what you get each week with Larson, making the most of what he is given.
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