Kyle Larson has been granted a waiver from NASCAR that will make him eligible to qualify for the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.
The news comes more than a week after Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion who was attempting to become the fifth competitor overall to attempt “The Double” between the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, had his plans foiled due to the Indy 500 being delayed by four hours for precipitation. Opting to remain at Indianapolis to compete in the 500 for Arrow McLaren, the Elk Grove, California, native missed the start of the Coke 600 as Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier piloted Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry in the event.
After finishing 18th in his first Indy 500 attempt, Larson, who would be named the 2024 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, then hopped on a plane, flew to Charlotte Motor Speedway and arrived just as the event was placed in a red flag period due to on-track precipitation. Despite getting suited for the event, the event was made official on Lap 249 of 400 and Allgaier was credited with a 13th-place result despite starting at the rear of the field due to the driver change made to Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 team. As a result, Larson was unable to turn in laps to complete his double-duty task, which also made his status of being eligible to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs in jeopardy since he did not take the green flag for the 600-mile event.
Following the event, Hendrick Motorsports filed in a waiver request for Larson, who had notched two victories through 13 scheduled events that made him eligible for the Playoffs prior to “The Double”. The first victory of the 2024 season occurred at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March while the second occurred at Kansas Speedway in May, where he established the closest-recorded finish in the history of the Cup Series after edging Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds.
Per the NASCAR Rule Book, every competitor is to start in all scheduled events in a season to be eligible for the Playoffs unless circumstantial situations would be approved or authorized by NASCAR. Ultimately, the decision to grant Larson a waiver from NASCAR was due to his efforts to travel to Charlotte Motor Speedway and compete in the Coke 600 following his run at Indianapolis, per Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition.
Larson, who has 25 Cup career victories to his current resume, has accumulated three poles, six top-five results, seven top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 12.4 to go alongside his two regular-season victories through 14 starts. He is currently ranked in second place in the regular-season standings, where he lost the points lead after opting to race in the Indy 500, and trails points leader Denny Hamlin by 21 points. He is also coming off a 10th-place result in last Sunday’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway.
With his Playoff eligibility restored, Kyle Larson’s next event of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to occur at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California, for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, June 9, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
