Appreciate the question and your detailed post. Well worded and with good info! (the 11 Larson fans watching the 500 was GREAT news...too bad ratings weren't anything too special, but they could have been worse/most likely would have been without Kyle...).
I guess, it has all been a learning experience. To go back to the beginning; IF the 1st PR from the Hendrick/McLaren camp had said "Kyle is going to run the Indy 500, and due to the weather, he will get a waiver from NASCAR"; it just left me questioning on how it was going to work out. Over a week later, many of us who care (like almost 3m watch almost every week; I follow it as I can - not usually watching really...listening to the radio broadcast while completing other tasks), are still wondering.
So, next, I learned you cannot ask for a waiver until AFTER you miss a race. Ok, but I would certainly think Rick Hendrick would have those conversations with NASCAR as much as anyone (he got an extra car in a race once - Budweiser sponsorship - and an extra car in the playoffs - Jeff Gordon - after the Truex/Bowyer spin out deal in the last race of that year). But, so far, this waiver still hasn't happened...
The main rule is (from link below): Per section 12.3.2.1.A of the NASCAR Rule Book, the language reads, “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.”
At the point in time in which the transportation from Indy to Charlotte; could not be achieved before the start of the Cup race (maybe after the 500 started, I'm not sure, but how lame it woulda been if he started the 500 and ran 20 laps and then left - like Tony was minutes away from leaving Indy in 01 and Robby left on lap 29 in 04 to go to Charlotte), they clearly gave up the chance of starting the Cup race. Now, if they are good at presenting their case, perhaps they could provide weather predictions that indicated it was going to rain at the scheduled start time of the Cup race...
Do I wish and hope they get the waiver? Yes, other than maybe if they don't, it will be the best shot C Bell (or even another open wheeler like Tyler Reddick) ever have to win the Cup champ (if Kyle isn't eligible). Of coarse, I want them to get the waiver tho and for all of them to race it out (really wish Bell and Tyler weren't in TRDs, but TRD certainly spent more $ on Bell than any other OEM has spent on any recent driver at any time and it is great to see when that is working out)...
But you have to look at from the sanctioning bodies eyes. Let's connect it to dirt racing: The main organization that seems to limit drivers running outside of their series is the WoO. So, simply, its like a driver running a non-WoO outside of the rules however they are for that (they get like 4 other sanctioned races, plus the Knox Nationals, right?).
As hard as it is to say; I mean do we really expect NASCAR to say someone running the Indy 500 is more important than their races? We may think and feel it certainly is, but in their mind, how could it be? Joey Lagano (who I don't like) apparently keeps saying he thinks running some late model race somewhere is more important to him (and he might wana miss some race...)...that is the problem...many of the other owners and drivers want to keep Kyle out and will be bargaining NASCAR to do so...
Now, Kyle said at least Sunday on Raceday, he doesn't care and he will still run for the owners championship and that is what they get paid for; but I wish they could say; if we don't get a waiver maybe Kyle just won't run some Cup races...ideally getting more laps running every Indycar oval race, maybe even a couple road courses; and maybe just some sprint car races he wants to...but I don't see that happening...
Here is another good article on it. This is one of Kelly's better penned stories and I (kinda like you said about me, lol) will say I agree with most of it.
https://racer.com/2024/06/03/nascar-...te-the-policy/
I can't find the list of waivers (I swear I posted it before), but I am certain it has also included - or it woulda, if needed - waivers for drivers to miss races for the birth of their children. I understand that Kelly would not want to say she had a problem with that, but it is hard to think that is "ok" either...I mean is hard to type it, but I grew up in a time - or read about drivers like Richard Petty/Bobby Unser/etc - when this would have never happened "back in the day". They had to go to their job!
I followed NASCAR around the time Ricky Rudd was racing barely able to hold his eyes open, drivers raced with broken legs and other bones/sternums (Dale Sr.), concussions, concussions AND broken bones (Davey Allison comes most of mind). etc...So I really honestly think there should not be ANY playoff waiver...medical or personal - I myself, even raced ("just" a micro, after we moved to 2nd in points) with a broken wrist once (I finished the race but after a few laps decided...hmm...what would happen if I broke the OTHER wrist? Then how would I use the restroom...? - with two casts on...), but we won our 2nd feature back with a half cast on (one of my biggest wins, Cornfest night at APS) and the next year, after a couple hard wrecks (not all of them were on the racetrack), I was literally seeing stars when I was getting up from under the car while working on it; and I figured it was from the head injuries (had a few over the years, including a craniotomy that year previous...); and I didn't really tell anyone I knew too well, but I think I did consult some old school cool-guy racers; if they thought I should race the next day (we did...helped us get 3rd in points that year at least). At no point would I have ever considered a waiver or a drop race. There was a race on the schedule, it was understood you had to be there to get the points...(later the next week, my chiropractor convinced me the stars I was seeing was more signals from my neck muscles telling my brain to take it easy and heal...that worked for me!) - these were all GREAT times in my racing "career" and memorable...
But again, I do WISH and HOPE that there is a waiver in this case (since playoff waivers exist in the first place); but until it happens, I will remain in suspense. I'd say I'd boycott NASCAR if they do not grant one, but as long as Bell, Reddick, Briscoe, & Stenhouse are running Cup and Allgaeir, Love, The Dinger, etc are running Xfinty (sometimes last week's top 10 usac sprint car feature finisher/hard charger award winner! - JJ Yeley, runs both); I know that I won't (boycott it...). Plus Kyle says what he really cares about was the 1st championship he got anyway...
And, I would certainly think qualifying the day before and the effort they made to fly there, would be worth something...
Otherwise, NASCAR just needs to change the rule, that if you are in the top points positions (last I knew in Cup, its supposed to be the top 30 in those points, if you had won one race and there weren't 16 other winners that year); the driver would make the playoffs. So maybe as simple as saying you have to be in the top 20/25 in points? (Meaning skipping a race would make that tougher, but not impossible if you were a guy that finished up front in most of the races u competed in). But, like the WoO; they are gona want their drivers at every race...its a tough call...we know what we WANT them to do, but will they do it???
I gota ask, since you mentioned it at 1st, (I only keep track of a couple guys on here that I have had keyboard battles with...); what have we disagreed with at times? (I'd say "lol" but someone on here, years ago, said I say that too much...). The most contentious points I recall are; most recently, the big deal about coolers at THAT (
), my take on the restrictions during the pandemic (a discussion point on this forum, during those times) which was originally called the Wuhan Virus (I think time has shown those restrictions were ill-founded) and the fact bmara outlawed 20 year old race engines (but after I sold mine, I got over it, and have appreciated just following that style of midget racing as it is...which I still say is expensive, just not as expensive as a modern national engine...). Was it one of those topics, or something else??? (Only reply if you wish, no hard feelings either way).
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