ThorSport urging NASCAR to let their eliminated drivers back into the playoffs

ThorSport Racing are urging NASCAR to ignore the rules of the playoffs and reinstate their two drivers who were eliminated from Truck Series playoff contention. Yes, really.

ThorSport Racing entered the three-round, seven-race, eight-driver 2019 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs as the only team to place more than one driver in the playoffs, and they ended up having three of their four drivers in.

But after the round of 8, only one of them, Matt Crafton, is still eligible to win the championship.

Regular season champion Grant Enfinger and Dover International Speedway race winner Johnny Sauter were both eliminated from championship contention following the round of 8 finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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The engines of all three drivers failed in this race, with Enfinger’s doing so in stage one and Crafton’s and Sauter’s doing so in stage two. Sauter ended up being classified in 29th place ahead of Crafton in 30th and Enfinger in 31st.

Because only two drivers are eliminated following the round of 8, at least one of them was guaranteed to advance to the round of 6 anyway.

That one driver ended up being Crafton, who entered the race five points above the round of 6 cut line in fourth place in the playoff picture. Enfinger entered it just two points ahead of it in the sixth and final transfer spot while Sauter entered it two points below it in seventh of the eight playoff drivers.

But ThorSport Racing have now urged NASCAR to reinstate their two eliminated drivers into the playoffs, which would effectively negate the playoff format by putting eight drivers into the round of 6, because Ilmor Engineering, which supplies engines for nearly every team in the Truck Series, claimed responsibility for the issues that knocked their playoff drivers out of the race.

Yes, really.

Here is what ThorSport Racing general manager David Pepper had to say about the matter, according to NBC Sports.

"“We feel the right thing for us is we were never allowed to race at Vegas for the playoff positions. We’re not asking to reset Vegas. We’ll take our last-place finishes. We’re just asking to move the cutoff date to Phoenix, eliminate four of us instead of two (after Vegas) and two (after Phoenix.) Allow it to be settled on the race track and not by an outside source that has openly said, ‘Hey, we made a mistake.’ I don’t want to beat on them. They made a mistake, but we shouldn’t be the victims of the mistake.”"

He added the following on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Thursday.

"“There’s a little-known rule that’s been exercised multiple times throughout the history of racing in NASCAR, the 1.6 C and D. The EIRI — except in rare instances rule. From our standpoint, we’ve been eliminated from the playoffs and it was none of our doing. And what were asking and lobbying at this point, we don’t want a reset or a reshuffle, we’d like to go to Talladega and the next three races and be allowed to be back into the playoffs and eliminate four teams at Phoenix and we’ll take our last place finishes at Las Vegas.”"

Here is an audio clip.

Pepper referenced the EIRI, “except in rare instances” rule.

According to NBC Sports, Section 1.6.b of the Truck Series rule book states the following:

"“On occasion, circumstances will be presented that are either unforeseen or are otherwise extraordinary, in which strict application of the NASCAR Rules may not achieve this goal. In such rare circumstances, the NASCAR Officials, as a practical matter, may make a determination regarding the conduct of an Event, the eligibility of a Competitor, or similar matters that are not contemplated by or are inconsistent with the NASCAR Rules, in order to achieve this goal.”"

But in order to apply this rule, you would inherently be ignoring another or others, and mechanical issues, while unforeseen, are an unforeseen part of racing, as are many other factors.

Should ThorSport Racing teammates Grant Enfinger and Johnny Sauter be reinstated into the 2019 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs because engine issues ultimately ended up knocking them out of competition in the round of 8 finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway?

The round of 6 opener, the Sugarlands Shine 250, is not scheduled to take place until Saturday, October 12. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.