In his debut at the Indy 500, Kyle Larson led more laps (at four) than the likes of John Andretti (two), Tim Richmond (one), Rubens Barrichello (two), and Jimmie Johnson (two), just to name a few. Yet, uncontrollable circumstances, courtesy of Mother Nature, have thrown a wrench into his Cup Series championship advances, with the racer not even being able to race at the Coca-Cola 600. And the governing body, navigating “uncharted waters” with the ongoing waiver discussions for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, is enforcing a silence on his progress.

It is only normal to take one’s time to make a difficult decision. And, to add to the drama, all 17 of his bonus playoff points have been omitted from the official standings’ update post-Gateway. But with HMS’ application awaiting confirmation for almost four days now, fans and drivers alike wonder if there are some ulterior motives for their shady avoidance. And one of them is Denny Hamlin.

Denny Hamlin hints at NASCAR’s temper tantrum towards Kyle Larson?

As of now, most are aware of Kyle Larson’s calamitous attempt at becoming one of the very few drivers in collective motorsports history to attempt 1100 miles of the notorious Indy-Charlotte “Double.” After months of preparation, rain delays at Indiana forced the 2021 Cup champ to “choose” between starting at the ‘Greatest Spectacle of Racing’ or heading back to the heart of NASCAR country to race at the “Longest & Most Prestigious” race of the year – the Coke 600.

Long story short, Larson chose to start at the Indy 500 and finished P18 as a debutant. When heading back to Charlotte to finish out almost one-third of the race in his #5 car, lightning strikes around the confines of Charlotte, forced the race to come to a permanent halt. He couldn’t run even a lap and missed the May 26 race completely, and now, as we stand, it seems like everyone’s pushing NASCAR to grace us with Kyle Larson’s waiver. Just last weekend at Gateway, Denny Hamlin wads only one of the drivers leaning toward the decision to let Larson contend for his second Cup Series championship.

Although Denny was unsure before the race if Hendrick Motorsports had indeed “submitted” the waiver, after finishing P2 and gaining the context on Kyle Larson’s waiver request awaiting approval, he had some bold claims to make for his familiar rival on the latest episode of Actions Detrimental. His co-host Jared Allen started the discussions off by asking Denny, “Do you think it’s legitimately possible that they (NASCAR) would not give him a waiver?”

The #11 driver had an intriguing answer for Allen, warranting further context: “Yes… I think they’re pissed.” Visibly intrigued, Allen inquired if he felt that way because Rick Hendrick’s race team assumedly changed their decision to keep Larson in Indy at the “eleventh hour”. To which Denny proceeded to duly explain, quoting, “NASCAR. I’m trying to think about this and how I word this and it’s not going to be right for sure, but, I feel as though they get offended very easily. They’re very sensitive people and they believe that they are the show in the US and that if you participate in NASCAR, you shouldn’t participate in anything else. That’s just the short and I just think that they don’t like playing second fiddle to anyone.”

Hinting at a top official unhappy with Larson and Hendrick Motorsports prioritizing the Indy 500, Hamlin then went on to say, “There’s someone in headquarters at NASCAR that doesn’t take kindly to playing second fiddle and believes that if you’re going to be over here, then you have to stay here. You’re ours now. That’s just my opinion. And I think that when he chose Indy over this Coke 600 that person got very offended and you just never know how they decide… what choices they’re going to make.”

Denny made another solid point, when he spoke about NASCAR’s well-known monopoly over decision-making procedures, “I mean they could make up a whole another rule and say, ‘Yeah you’re in the playoffs but you’ve lost all your playoff points.’ There’s just no governance to keep them from doing whatever they want.”

To prove his stance, he highlighted a controversial moment from 2013. Michael Waltrip Racing was reportedly caught trying to manipulate the regular-season finale with Clint Bowyer seemingly spinning intentionally (bringing out a caution) and Brian Vickers pitting on the restart, to allow the team’s third driver Martin Truex Jr to squeeze into the playoffs over Ryan Newman. However, not only was MWR slapped with a $300,000 fine, but in a never-done-before instance, the playoff berths were expanded from 12 to 13, bringing in Jeff Gordon, who had failed to qualify.

Hamlin uses this incident to demonstrate NASCAR’s total control over competition decisions, as he compared, “They added Jeff Gordon to the playoffs. He did not make the playoffs and they just added him. This is not unprecedented.”

Regardless, despite their on-track rivalry and their proximity in the 2024 points standings (separated by just a few points and one opportune race), Denny Hamlin offered some surprisingly funny, yet arguably provocative advice for his Hendrick nemesis in dark times.

Playoff picture meets payback plan

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Post-Charlotte, Hamlin has been one of the front-running beneficiaries of Kyle Larson’s woes, simply because it allowed the #11 driver a lead in the drivers’ points standings ten races away from the regular season finale. Although the playoffs picture is still up in the air, Larson had told Fs1 after his P10 comeback at Gateway of his determination to fight for every point for maybe the second-best thing to an eventual playoffs title – the regular season championship.

This poses an interesting narrative for both Larson and Hamlin. But Denny has been nothing but sympathetic towards his rival stuck in an unfortunate dilemma, instead vocalizing his intentions of potentially seeing Larson contend alongside himself for the coveted Cup title.

As the conversations evolved, the Chesterfield, VA native even compared a reported 8% viewership rise from last year for the Indy 500 with Larson in it, against the 2% drop for the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 without Kyle Larson, to speculate, “So, if you’re NASCAR you’re going to say ‘Oh! You helped their ratings and then you screw up ours? I’m not saying that’s rational. I’m just saying, but that’s the way I think they think.”

However, his conclusion laid out a good old payback plan for Kyle Larson to use against NASCAR,  in case the governing body ends up refusing his widely-anticipated waiver. “I think this. If for some reason he does not get a waive,. I think he should just run this s*** part schedule for the rest of the year. Say ‘How do you like it now? Fine, I’ll take a week off when I want,” advised Kyle Larson’s second-biggest championship threat this season (after the waiver decision).

Owing to Kyle Larson’s surging popularity, NASCAR’s viewership numbers could take even bigger hits if he decides to play out his rival’s risky solution.