“Words have been twisted” - Joey Logano clarifies his Kyle Larson waiver take

Team Penske's Joey Logano has recently cleared the air regarding his thoughts on whether Kyle Larson should receive a playoff waiver from NASCAR. The Hendrick Motorsports icon missed last week's start in the Cup Series' Coca-Cola 600 due to the delay in the commencement of the Indy 500, in which he competed earlier that day.

Kyle Larson already has two wins this year, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, which makes him eligible for the playoffs. However, according to the NASCAR rulebook, a driver needs to start in every point-paying race to qualify for the 10-race postseason.

A lot of buzz has been going around in the NASCAR community about whether Kyle Larson should receive the waiver. Joey Logano too has shared his thoughts but his words seemed to have been misunderstood.

Seeking to clear them up, Logano took to X and shared his interview with SiriusXM NASCAR radio. He captioned the post,

"If anyone listened to what I said yesterday, I never picked a side. I was pointing out the tough decision that NASCAR is in. Since words have been twisted yet again….here’s what I think…What Larson did for Motorsports was amazing, and he should get the waiver."

In the interview, Logano had explained that it is not easy for someone to just walk away from the opportunity to compete in the Indianapolis 500, which, he said, was almost on par with the Cup Series' Daytona 500 in terms of renown:

"I get it man, you're in Indy. You've done all the practices, you've done the qualifying, you've done all the prep. The Indy 500 definitely rivals the Daytona 500 as the biggest race in America. It's hard to walk away. It's hard to leave. Unless someone told me I had a waiver, you would probably stay for it.

...Considering he is in the playoffs, he's good to go over here ...if he gets the waiver, missing a race isn't the end of the world."

Today, Joey Logano sits 17th on the NASCAR Cup Series' championship standings with 315 points. On the other hand, Kyle Larson is third on the list with 486 points. They will race each other next week at the Enjoy Illinois 300, slated for June 3 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

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Joey Logano elaborated on NASCAR's 'gray area'

Joey Logano feels the waiver-granting system is the grayest rule that NASCAR has. According to the two-time Cup champion, there should be a definite rule regarding how and when NASCAR gives waivers to its drivers, as he maintained in his interview with SiriusXM NASCAR radio:

"I thought the rule is there for that reason, to make sure people just don't go on vacation after they make the playoffs."

Referring to Chase Elliott's holiday snowboarding injury from last year, Joey Logano said (via On3):

"The scenario that happened last year, Chase Elliott gets hurt snowboarding. Do you get a waiver there? Pretty gray, pretty gray. I don’t know. I don’t know the right answer, but we all know what happened."

Nevertheless, NASCAR's Senior Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer revealed on SiriusXM NASCAR radio that if Hendrick Motorsports sends in an appeal for a waiver for Kyle Larson, they would go through it diligently:

"We’ll go through our due diligence and meet with our people. This will be a decision that not just one person will make but group will sit, look at it, discuss it, and move forward."

Whether Kyle Larson gets a waiver for the 2024 playoffs is a question that remains unanswered for now.