NASCAR did two things right on Wednesday, when it ruled Kyle Busch would get a medical waiver and wouldn’t get a top-30 waiver. Those two decisions were fair to Busch and more importantly, fair to the other 42 drivers hoping to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
To review: In order to make the Chase, a driver has to: 1. Win at least one race in the Sprint Cup regular season. 2. Finish the regular season in the top 30 in points. 3. Compete in every points race.
If there are fewer than 16 race winners in the regular season, the Chase field is filled out by the non-winners highest in points. Last year, for example, 13 drivers made the Chase by winning races, the other three by points.
Busch was injured in Daytona and missed the first 11 races of the season. He will return to the cockpit of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway (FOX Sports 1, 7 p.m. ET).
Given Busch’s return, NASCAR had three options:
1. Don’t grant Busch an injury waiver for the races he missed.
2. Grant Busch only an injury waiver for the races he missed.
3. Grant Busch waivers for both his injury and for the top-30 points requirement.
In my opinion, NASCAR did exactly the right thing by choosing option No. 2.
Providing Busch with an injury waiver gives him an opportunity to race for the championship on the same terms as everybody else — win a race or races and end the Cup regular season in the top 30 and you’re in the Chase. Fail to hit those requirements and you aren’t. It’s as simple as that.
Based on past comments by NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France, I really thought NASCAR might waive the top-30 requirement, but I’m glad they didn’t. Because if they had, it’s possible Busch would have made the Chase by knocking out someone who was otherwise eligible.
As noted earlier, last year three drivers made the Chase on points and it’s likely that several will this year, too. If one of them would have made it in on points but got bumped out by Busch and Busch failed to crack the top 30, the driver who lost his Chase spot would have had legitimate grounds for complaint.
What about the argument that NASCAR shouldn’t have granted Busch a waiver for missing races?
Nonsense, I say.
Last year, Denny Hamlin missed one race and got a Chase waiver, while Tony Stewart missed three and was granted a waiver, although he ultimately failed to make the Chase. Busch’s situation isn’t any different, even though he missed more races.
Appearing in every race is irrelevant; if a driver can rack up a victory or two and finish in the top 30, then he or she will have earned a Chase slot. Period. In face, if Busch can finish in the top 30 competing in 15 races, while everyone else races in 26, he deserves to be lauded and not punished.
Would you force LeBron James to miss the NBA playoffs if he missed half the regular season with a knee injury? Would you force Tom Brady to sit out the NFL playoffs because of his four-game suspension? Of course not.
And in reality, watching Busch try to charge to the front will just add that much more drama to the next 15 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
Welcome back, Kyle. It’s been too quiet without you.
