Rick Hendrick issues statement after Kyle Larson has NASCAR Playoff waiver approved
Kyle Larson will compete in the playoffs after receiving a waiver, and Rick Hendrick just reacted to the news. On Tuesday, Hendrick, the co-owner and founder of Larson’s team Hendrick Motorsports, released a statement following NASCAR giving Larson the playoff waiver.
“We appreciate NASCAR communicating with us throughout the effort and granting our request for a playoff waiver,” Hendrick said.
Larson missed out on competing in the Coca-Cola 600 because he participated in the Indy 500 earlier in the day. The Indy 500 was delayed for nearly four hours due to weather, which led to Larson leaving Indianapolis after the race to head to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. However, the Cup Series race was suspended due to weather as Larson arrived in Charlotte and was eventually called with 151 laps remaining.
“Under normal circumstances, completing ‘the double’ is one of the toughest tests in sports,” Hendrick said. “Despite our best efforts, this year’s combination of weather conditions in Indianapolis and Charlotte made it impossible. Although losing ground in the standings was hard to swallow, we were especially disappointed for the fans at the Coca-Cola 600 who were not able to see Kyle (Larson) race.
Rick Hendrick is ‘extremely proud’ of Kyle Larson
“I’m extremely proud of everything he did to prepare and the months of planning by our team and our partners at Arrow McLaren to run these two crown jewel events. We hoped race day would play out differently, but the program was still incredibly positive for everyone involved. Kyle’s performance throughout May was a great reflection on the level of talent competing each week in the NASCAR Cup Series.”
Now that Larson will take part in the playoffs this fall, his focus is now finishing the regular season strong and winning his second Cup Series Championship. But since he missed out on completing the Indy 500-Coca-Cola 600 double, Larson would love to try again soon.
“I don’t know. I’m very very thankful for the experience, obviously,” Larson said to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports after leaving the race track at the Coca-Cola 600. “Everything about the two weeks and all that was great until today, so just uh, sad. … Yeah it’s just sad. Everything that could have went wrong today, went wrong. So, hopefully, hopefully get to do it again in the future and hopefully weather is better next time.”