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NASCAR Explains Why Kyle Larson Got a Waiver · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Obviously you know a lot going on in the last week around the
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  waiver for Kyle. We didn't take that lightly.
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  A lot of discussion internally. I'm proud of our team and and
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  how we took the due diligence to work through this process, but
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  ultimately landed at giving Kyle a waiver so he'll be eligible
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  for the playoffs going forward. And essentially our decision
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  making was, although we had the inclement weather in, in Indy as
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  well that Charlotte Kyle made every attempt to get to
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  Charlotte. He was standing in the pit box
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  with his helmet on ready to go. And unfortunately we had weather
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  in Charlotte as well and we weren't fortunate enough to get
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  the race going again. So that's how we landed at our
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  decision. As we went through this process.
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  You look at the waiver, this was without a doubt uncharted
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  waters. In the past, those waivers have
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  been given mostly for medical reasons or situations where
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  drivers were suspended from our event.
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  And those waivers were granted fairly quickly.
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  This one again, was unprecedented in the fact that
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  we had a a driver missile one of our races, one of our
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  corporations, A championship event to be at another event.
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  So that's why it took as long as it did.
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  I'm proud of our process. I'm I'm proud of the team here
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  at the at NASCAR and the way we work through that.
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  And we felt like that the time that it took, you know, roughly
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  a week was exactly what we needed to get to the right
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  decision. Just a question, kind of a
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  two-part question #1 would you consider this a close call in
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  any way? And as kind of a follow up, the
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  reason I asked that is you have, in fairness, granted far more
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  waivers than you guys have denied in the past.
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  And some could even say that you kind of facilitated Kyle's
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  efforts. I mean, there was the movement
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  of the start time of the All Star race and so forth.
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  And I just wondered, when it came down to the nuts and bolts,
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  what's this really a a close decision?
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  Well, I think it's, it's done. It was in uncharted waters, as I
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  said earlier. So the decision making process,
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  you know, it took the time it did to make sure that we, we got
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  this right. And as I hit on the earlier,
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  the, the, the reason the waivers in place or one of the reasons
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  it's in place is to give our fans some certainty that if they
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  buy a ticket, come and watch our athletes and our stars perform,
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  that they're going to see them. So the, the prior precedent that
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  was set with allowing waivers, you know, those, those real
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  quick decisions. As I said earlier, this one was
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  unique in the fact that obviously Kyle raced in a with
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  another series and wasn't there to start our event.
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  As far as it being close, I don't know.
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  There was different views from different people, which I,
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  again, I commend our process, proud of our team and everyone
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  had a view on it and the ultimate decision that we want
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  to get to was the right decision and we feel like we got there.
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  We're looking forward to getting to Atlanta, just kick our
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  playoffs and have one of the the sport's biggest stars contending
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  for a championship. And just one, one quick follow
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  up. Do you think that anything that
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  resulted out of today would have you relook at your waiver rules
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  in the future? I don't think so.
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  You know, we, we will in the offseason like we always do with
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  rules, we'll revisit. But the rule book is very clear.
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  You either grant the waiver or you don't.
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  Anything in between that would have been not really followed by
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  our rule books. And and as we said before,
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  that's that's a guideline for us to look at.
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  Again, we didn't take this lightly.
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  That's why it took the time to get to the decision that we did.
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  But this one was unique. We'll continue to look at it.
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  A lot of things that we learned from this process.
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  I do want to say that I want to commend the team at at Hendrick
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  Motorsports, Jeff Andrews working very closely with them
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  on the the timelines to the All Star race.
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  All the collaboration was really good.
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  At no point did we before 620 issue on Sunday night.
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  The green flag drop in at the 600 was anyone led to believe
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  that they 100% would get a waiver?
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  And you can't make that decision prior to you got to let the the
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  event unfold, let the process take its course.
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  And that's exactly what we did. We felt like we the double is
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  great. It's great for Motorsports, it's
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  great for NASCAR. We we were all looking forward
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  to having Pile land in the ball field there at Charlotte, get
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  out of a helicopter, go get in his car and hopefully, you know,
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  compete and and complete the 1100 miles.
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  But that didn't that didn't work out that way.
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  That didn't unfold for the obvious reasons that we know
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  about. I mean.
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  Weather isn't a surprise, so why couldn't that decision have been
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  made before? Like it's, it seems pretty
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  simple. If weather happens, what's
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  what's going to be the decision? Well, I think by if you look at
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  it again, you let the process unfold.
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  You know, we didn't, there wasn't a, a waiver needed prior
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  to again 622 green flag Sunday night in Charlotte.
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  So a lot of that is hypotheticals.
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  What if this, what if that we had gone through some of them.
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  But again, you let the process take its course.
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  A lot of things could have happened in between whether this
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  happened to be the one that was in, you know, in front of us on
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  this particular situation. So at no point would we grant
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  any waivers prior to that. That would not have been the
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  process. And do you feel like, and you
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  know, have you set a precedent that if you know somebody is at
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  another event and and they make an effort to come back to get to
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  your race, that that will be enough to get a waiver?
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  Or is is the Indy 500 a a different circumstance than
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  other events? I think you hit the nails on the
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  head there, Bob. I mean, you, you know, Indy is a
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  big race. Obviously the coach 600 is a
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  huge race for us as well. But if they can be looking
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  Motorsports in general, the Indy 500 is a, you know, it's a big
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  event. We we embrace the double.
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  We we think it's great. We want to see other drivers,
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  you know, have that opportunity. So we have to, you know, just
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  make sure that we're looking out first and foremost for the fans
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  that again, buy the ticket that we're here in Charlotte.
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  And it felt like Kyle get and the team gave every effort to be
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  able to get here and he was ready to go and had his helmet
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  on. And unfortunately we're not able
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  to get going and getting back in the car.
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  So again, I know it's a little bit of a cliche, but every
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  situation is different and I feel like that we have the
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  parameters in our rule book and the team here at the R&D center
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  to ultimately make the best decision and that's what we were
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  were hired to do. Hey, Elton, A a couple of things
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  At the end of the day, why didn't you guys deny it?
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  I mean, it it the way the rule book is written and obviously I
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  know it's, you know, you guys can make that call.
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  But he missed the start of the race.
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  And they had said ahead of time the 600 was the priority they
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  had. They had told everybody that
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  that's what the priority was. They, I'm guessing, LED you guys
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  to believe the 600 was the priority.
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  And then suddenly they don't show up on the green flag falls.
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  Why should you guys bail them out?
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  I, I think that's a great question, Dustin.
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  I would look at it is the the game was we went into that
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  weekend, all communication with HMS was that was their priority.
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  That was their day job. And unfortunately the weather
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  situation threw them a curveball through the industry, a
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  curveball and something that we had to to deal with.
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  But ultimately the effort that they made without the weather,
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  they're they're going to be there.
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  We feel confident that was going to happen.
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  To not have Kyle Larson in our playoff and give our fans the
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  opportunity to see him race for a championship and compete
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  against some of the best drivers in the world.
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  At the end of the day didn't feel like that's the right
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  decision for us to make and and we didn't.
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  We felt like we got to the right spot.
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  And also one other thing Elton, is was there a consideration to
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  penalizing the team, whether some playoff points or something
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  like that? Because I mean, like you guys
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  can do whatever you want, but to kind of get the message across,
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  hey, you know, we're going to grant you the waiver.
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  We don't appreciate how things were done in in one sense.
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  And so you're going to get it, but you're going to, you're
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  going to pay a penalty for for this unique circumstance.
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  Again, everything was on the table, but if you look at the
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  rule book, the two options were granted or not to grant it and
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  anything in between that or outside of that would have been
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  us digging deep into the rule book to do something that
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  didn't. It just didn't feel right to do
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  that. So again, every effort was made
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  to with all good intentions. Again, I go back to this like
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  all of our fans were looking forward to to seeing Kyle
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  compete in in both the the Indy 500 and the Coke 600 and and
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  that didn't work out. Hey Ellen, you've mentioned that
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  every effort was made and he was on pit Rd. with his helmet on
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  ready to get in. Even though the rule is to be
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  there for the start of the race, do you think that this is a
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  quicker or easier call if the race gets back going and he
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  races in the 600? Not really.
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  I, I don't think so. I think, you know, we had no
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  control over the weather. We're an outdoor sport.
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  So the way that unfolded, you know, you once they didn't start
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  the race, you know, some decisions obviously were made on
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  their side. If you want to look at it, that
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  there was some penalty. There was there was an
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  opportunity there for for the five car and Kyle to gain, you
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  know, roughly eight playoff points by winning the race and
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  winning each stage and also padding his point lead in the
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  regular season that would ultimately getting 15 additional
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  points. So you you know, it time will
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  tell if those potential 23 points that were, you know, on
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  the table that he didn't get how that will unfold as we go
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  through the playoffs. So there was, you know, a point
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  penalty for him and we don't feel like from our side that
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  that any other additional penalty or any type of asterisk
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  beside it would have been the right, right way moving forward.
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  And did Hendrick at all ask on that Sunday when the decision
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  was being made that it was clear that he was going to miss the
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  race? Did they did they reflect the
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  waiver at that point or ask what the decision might be before
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  that decision was officially made?
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  No, we didn't. Again, those decisions and I
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  keep going back to this because they could have you could ask
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  right up until 6:00 before we went green at Charlotte, but
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  they just the answer would have been the same thing.
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  You got to let the, you know, let the process unfold the
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  situation, you know, likely wouldn't have changed just due
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  to the timing and being able to get there.
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  But until we went green and he wasn't in the five car from that
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  point forward, you start working through, you know, the waiver
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  process. So again, I'm, I'm really proud
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  of our team here at, at, at NASCAR.
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  And this was a NASCAR decision and one that wasn't taken
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  lightly as as I said earlier, and, but ultimately we felt like
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  we got to the right decision, the best decision for our fans
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  and, and ultimately they're ones that, you know, pay all of our
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  bills. Elton, thanks for jumping on
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  with us. I, I know this, it's, it's hard
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  to, to, to, to jump in this pool as the decision that the longer
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  it took to make this decision, the more noise was coming out.
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  And yes, the fans pay our bills, but man, these guys make a lot
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  of noise. There was conspiracy theories
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  and all the reasons that we were waiting for this.
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  How hard was it to tune out that noise?
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  And I'll have a quick follow up. It wasn't really difficult,
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  Greg, to be honest with you. I mean I again, I commend you
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  know John Propst and his leadership here at the at the
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  R&D center and we just we stayed the course.
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  We had our internal meetings, we have more internal meetings.
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  We continue to have dialogue around it.
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  And then the other part of it is we're, we're in front of us was
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  a race at Worldwide Technology Raceway that we're all getting
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  prepared for. So, but again, the number one
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  thing was to get to the right decision, take the time.
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  It felt like the time that it took was the right amount of
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  time to get to the right decision.
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  And just to confirm, you're not going to change the rules about
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  these waivers, but it's still going to be sort of a case by
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  case basis. I mean, injuries are going to be
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  almost no brainers And then but when you have something come up
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  like this, it's going to be more of like a, a case by case basis.
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  Well, what I would say, Greg, is that we're going to look at it,
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  take a deeper dive, but as we sit here today, we feel like we
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  have, you know, language in the rule book that would support
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  obviously given the waiver and and be not given the waiver.
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  So it's in the rule book. Is there something we feel like
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  and what we've learned from this process that we need to, you
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  know, add some language or delete some language, you know,
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  we'll do that. But as we sit here today, you
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  know that that's, we don't feel like we need to do anything at
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  the moment. But again, there's a long list
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  of rules that as you go through the season, we talked about,
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  we'll put them on the kind of the the agenda for the offseason
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  and we'll we'll do that with this one as well.
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  And it's been a great season so far.
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  Thank you, Sir. Absolutely phenomenal.
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  I mean we, yes, absolutely. And then we'll wrap with Daniel
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  Trotta. Go ahead, Daniel.
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  Hi, Alvin. Thanks for the time.
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  We're about to hop on, Sirius. So if you could just indulge and
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  help me a little bit with some of the calls I think we'll
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  receive from drivers that have been on the show, Fans that were
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  adamant Larson should not get a waiver.
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  Their one sticking point is that he made a choice that he chose
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  to be in Indianapolis and he missed the start of Charlotte.
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  Could you help me as to an answer from NASCAR's point on
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  that question? Yeah, that's a great question,
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  Danielle. And I think, I think again as
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  you go through the process, they, they did make a choice.
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  I think you look at again as I hit on early, there was a choice
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  to leave some points on the table that they they made that
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  decision to stay in Indy. We wish that they would have
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  been in Charlotte, but we understood and why that decision
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  was made. And ultimately, at the end of
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  the day, I would I keep going back to this, but this is the
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  the path that that we were on. Ultimately, he got to Charlotte
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  was ready to go would have, you know, raised 151 laps or so.
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  They are to conclude the Coach 600 and we felt like that they
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  gave the best effort to do, you know what we needed to do for
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  our fans in Charlotte. NASCAR has granted Kyle Larson
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  the waiver. Oh, hold on.
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  Hey, Wallace, what you doing patting yourself on the back?
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  Well, absolutely. We all knew they would.
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  You know, we took a lot of polls and it was like 87, almost 90%
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  of the people. And these were good polls.
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  These were like the 7000 people you, you can't have NASCAR
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  looked at all that you can't look at social media and these
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  polls that everybody was taking in, in my, my poll is the best
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  because I say so. And you can't have almost 90% of
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  the people and all the athletes in the world and you know,
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  people from Chevrolet and too many people, you know, I, I hear
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  you. I hear some of you negative
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  Nellies out there. He chose to go there.
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  But it that falls underneath brother Rusty saying, look,
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  you're thinking wrong. Hey, Rusty taught me that
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  growing up. He goes, Herm, you ain't
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  thinking right. I was like a dog with rabbit
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  ears on. I was like, what?
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  I never heard of that before. So, yeah, it's true.
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  You can be. It's not even a disagreement.
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  It's you're thinking wrong. Your your thought process is way
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  off. So Kyle Larson deserved the
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  waiver. He got it.
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  And now we move on. There's it's over.
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  So hold on, what do you think? I think he did too.
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  How come? He's put a.
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  Lot into the. Sport, he he deserves it.
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  Absolutely. She's way more mature than me.
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  You heard it from the boss, all right.