Denny Hamlin pressed on whether Kyle Larson should get a waiver from NASCAR after missing Coca-Cola 600 start
After Mother Nature ruined Kyle Larson’s attempt at pulling the double — racing both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day — all the talk has been whether the Hendrick Motorsports wheelman should receive a waiver for the Cup Series playoffs, as he missed the race in Charlotte.
It’s a unique situation, as Larson would’ve been able to participate in the race, but it was called early due to rain, and Christopher Bell was named the winner a little more than halfway through. During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin elaborated on whether he’d give Larson a waiver, if it were up to him.
“I got asked that question by a couple people at JGR. … They said, ‘Do you think he should get a waiver?’ And I said quickly, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ They were like, ‘Really? So what if you want to go race Le Mans next year? Should you get a waiver?’ I said, ‘Hm, that’s a good point. I didn’t think about it like that.’ What defines a major event? There are lots of major events,” Hamlin said, regarding Larson choosing the Indianapolis 500 over the Coca-Cola 600. “Now, Kyle wasn’t missing this to go to a high-limit race. You know, he was missing this to do the Indy 500. I don’t know how NASCAR feels about him choosing Indy over the Coke 600, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to convince me that the Coke 600 is a bigger event than the Indy 500. Would anyone make that argument?
“I think yes, he absolutely should (receive the waiver). I think absolutely, he will. I would think that they would have a tough time — I think it would be very hard — they made this decision, without already consulting with NASCAR, on what they would do.”
While Hamlin believes Larson should and ultimately will be granted the waiver, he played a bit of devil’s advocate regarding instances where NASCAR has granted waivers in the past.
“The only difference, and I saw people say before, ‘Well, Chase Elliott got one before when he was suspended.’ Yeah, but he wasn’t allowed to race. Kyle was allowed to race, and had an opportunity to race,” Hamlin added. “It wasn’t, he didn’t have a physical injury. Because the only waivers that have been handed out have because of suspensions. NASCAR has said, ‘You will not be racing. You will not have the opportunity to race.’ Or there’s been other physical injuries that have kept people from competing, like an Erik Jones, for example.
“This is just a unique situation, for sure, that my guess is they would give him a waiver, which is fine by me, absolutely. I want to compete with him for the playoffs.”
The competitor and the team-owner in Denny Hamlin would like to see Kyle Larson granted a waiver for the playoffs. It’s easy to see why, and it would certainly be controversial if NASCAR doesn’t grant the No. 5 team one over the next couple of days.