DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- It took over a week, but NASCAR finally approved a waiver for Kyle Larson, who missed a start in the ill-fated Coke 600 to remain at Indianapolis and compete in the rain-delayed but eventually completed running of the 108th Indy 500.  

My question is, why did this take so long? 

What logical reason would they have had to not give him a waiver, other than pouting because he didn't abandon a start in the greatest spectacle in racing to go race at Charlotte?

None.  The idea that this was some extraordinary situation that required a week of hand-wringing and overthinking just shows you how NASCAR makes logical decisions complex sometimes.  

Here's an excerpt from a NASCAR.com story by Zach Sturniolo published on June 4, 2024, that details some of NASCAR Senior Vice President Elton Sawyer's comments about the process of making the decision.  

“We stayed the course,” Sawyer said of the decision-making process. “We had our internal meetings. We had more internal meetings. We continued to have dialogue around it. And then the other part of it is in front of us was a race at World Wide Technology raceway that (we were) all getting prepared for. So again, the number one thing was to get to the right decision, take the time. We felt like the time that it took was the right amount of time to get to the right decision.”

Waivers have previously been granted to competitors who either missed races due to injuries or suspensions from NASCAR-sanctioned events. What complicated matters this time, Sawyer said, was “we had a driver miss one of our races, a championship event, to be at another event.

“One of the reasons (the waiver is) in place is to give our fans some certainty that if they buy a ticket to come and watch our athletes and our stars perform, that they’re going to see them,” Sawyer said. “So the prior precedent that was set with allowing waivers, those were quick decisions, as I said earlier. This one was unique in the fact that obviously Kyle raced with another series and wasn’t there to start our event.”

There's an old saying that a giraffe is a horse created by a committee. The meaning of that phrase is that sometimes you can have too many meetings and too many fingers in the pie.  

All you need is common sense and logic, most of the time.  

Let's be real here for a moment.  

Kyle Larson is NASCAR's biggest icon since Dale Earnhardt, Sr.  His brand is bigger than NASCAR.  Don't believe me?  Well, consider these facts...

When NASCAR suspended Larson for using language nobody should use, he didn't disappear from the limelight.  He went and won dozens of short-track races and built his brand bigger than ever.  He did what was asked of him by NASCAR, came back with one of its biggest teams, and won a championship. 

His merchandise outsold that of every Indy Car regular during May this year at Indy, according to Indy Car. 

He unquestionably got more eyeballs for NASCAR by attempting to run both races than NASCAR would have gotten otherwise, and it is logical to assume that the "Larson Effect" contributed at least somewhat to the 500's ratings bump this year. 

The ratings for the abandoned Coke 600, by the way, were down.  

Just over 3 million viewers watched the 600, while over 5 million tuned in to the Indy 500, which ended up competing against the start of the 600 for our eyeballs due to the rains moving through Indiana.

That ought to tell you something.   

The Indy 500 is, without question, the USA's most revered and most watched sporting event.  It draws three times the crowd that the Daytona 500 does, and probably five times the crowd that the Coke 600 does. 

According to IMS President Doug Boles, 70 percent of Indy 500 viewers do not watch another Indy Car race for the rest of the year.  That tells you how big that race is. It's a sporting event that sports fans watch, not just Indy Car fans.  

It's a part of Americana. 

NASCAR gave up on its' sellout crowd of fans at Charlotte by sending them home without doing everything they could to finish their longest race.  

Larson made the effort to get back to Charlotte to get in the car and bring all his new-found fans' eyes with them, but the race never restarted. 

I get that NASCAR fans want to see all the stars in every race, but this was history and fans were following Larson's journey like he was Santa Claus making his way to their chimney on Christmas Eve.  

I haven't seen a single fan express anger that he stayed at Indy.  Anyone who would just doesn't understand the magnitude of the Indy 500, and/or is just a NASCAR snob.  

It was a gorgeous day in Charlotte on Monday and a national holiday.  NASCAR used to finish races on Monday, especially a big one like that, but no more. Modern-day NASCAR isn't the same as it used to be.  The committee of one is now a committee of several - too many, in this man's opinion.  

That's unfortunate for the fans. 

I don't care what your rule book says -sometimes you have to make exceptions because it's the right thing to do in a certain circumstance. The Coke 600 is one of your top four races.  Giving the fans all 600 miles was possible. 

NASCAR just chose not to.    

It's a good thing Larson did run Indy.  Indy did everything they needed to to get that whole race in, and they did.  

Nothing here was Larson's fault.  Why is it so complicated? 
 
Here's more food for thought...

NASCAR gave their perennial most popular driver, Chase Elliott, not one but two waivers in 2023 - one for a skiing injury and one for being suspended for crashing another car.  

How could NASCAR logically justify suspending Elliott for intentionally crashing someone and then granting him a waiver to still compete in the playoffs if he makes it in, but not grant a waiver for a driver...

-Whose fanbase goes far beyond NASCAR
-Who spent much of May going back and forth from Indy trying his best to fulfill his commitment and follow the rules
-Got delayed by weather, which eventually led NASCAR to send the fans home with just over half-a-show because they didn't want to come back on Monday after he did all he could to still show up and get in the race despite getting no points or official credit for doing so. 

How do you make that decision to say no to him?  

What other race besides the Indy 500 would be so massively appealing that it would cause a rash of NASCAR Cup stars to abandon their stock cars for a day to go run?

Not a single one.   

I believe NASCAR should make it clear that they want any driver who has the desire and opportunity to run the double to run it, and that they will have NASCAR's full support including the waiver.  

Who wouldn't want to see both Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson attempt Indy next year?  Who wouldn't want to see Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney or Austin Cindric take on the Greatest Spectacle In Racing?    

That only benefits both series and creates mainstream media conversation far beyond the sports bubble.  Eyeballs bring sponsors.  Mainstream media brings eyeballs.  

Had they not granted the waiver to Larson, you would likely have never seen an attempted double again.  Everyone loses in that scenario - fans, both sanctioning bodies, TV...everyone.  Nobody wins.  

I love both Indy and Charlotte.  Both are amazing events and both are (most of the time) two of the most exciting and entertaining races of the year.  

But, there's only one Indy 500. 

I'm glad NASCAR did the right thing.  I'm not sure they would have been prepared for the backlash of getting this one wrong.  

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