NASCAR Cup Series cars have practiced and qualified at Gateway and the driver who is third in the championship standings, with two victories on the season, still does not know whether or not he will be championship eligible the remainder of the season.
Kyle Larson was bit twice by the same storm that delayed the start of the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 last Sunday. It ultimately put him in the position to remain in Indianapolis to make his debut in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing but the remainder of the Coke 600 was then rained out just as he arrived in Charlotte.
It was a worst-case scenario for Larson, who was already not going to receive credit for starting the race but intended to finish it as a gesture of good faith if nothing else.
Surely, Hendrick Motorsports, which fielded the Indianapolis entry alongside Arrow McLaren Racing would not have forged ahead with the Indianapolis 500 effort without the expectation that a playoff waiver would be granted by NASCAR.
NASCAR rules require drivers, even those in good points standing and with victories, to make every start to be eligible for the 10-race playoffs unless provided a waiver for the races they missed by the sanctioning body.
Waivers have been granted for injuries and even drivers suspended by NASCAR for behavioral decisions but this is ‘un-chartered waters’ in the sense that Larson opted to run a race, albeit the most famous race in the world, sanctioned by another league.
Those waivers are typically granted pretty quickly, and while Hendrick filed theirs on Thursday, there is still no decision by Saturday morning.
Does that surprise Larson?
“I don’t know,” Larson said during his Saturday morning media scrum at Gateway. It was a series of Qs and As, where Larson did not offer much, seemingly trying to not compromise his chances.
Does he feel like he should get one?
“It’s not up to me,” he said.
Larson said the decision will not affect how he races, because even if he isn’t eligible for the driver championship, one that he won in 2021, his No. 5 car would still be eligible for the owners championship and that’s where all the money is paid out anyway.
“I wouldn’t drive any different,” he said. “I would try to win a championship.”
He also wants to do the Indianapolis 500 again next year because there’s no way the same worst case scenario could happen twice … right?
“I cant imagine the weather could get any worse or screw up our plans any worse,” Larson said. “If I were to do it again, it would go smoothly.”
Regardless of the outcome, Larson has felt support from everyone in his circle. The decision was endorsed by Rick Hendrick. Roger Penske, who owns a rival NASCAR team but also IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 lobbied for him to get a waiver, as has Arrow McLaren principal Zak Brown.
Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels called Larson after the rain-shortened 600 to emotionally support his driver too.
“Cliff gave me a nice phone call and all that,” Larson said. “I wasn’t as sad about the way the way the IndyCar race turned out. I was just sad that I wasn’t able to get into the (Cup) car and get going. In my heart, and in my mind, I felt like I was letting these guys down.
“I didn’t get to talk to them before the race but if I were in their shoes, I would be … (pause) I didn’t know what they would think. I didn’t want them to think I chose something else over them. But after talking to Cliff, I learned everyone was in great spirits and proud that I was at Indy representing their team.
“That made me feel better, because I was a little depressed over it.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.