After Kyle Larson missed last year's Coca-Cola 600 due to his decision to remain at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the rain-delayed Indy 500 (and then, of course, due to the Coca-Cola 600 being shortened by rain itself), the process for him to be granted a playoff waiver was anything but straightforward.
Though he was granted the waiver, and thus remained eligible for the postseason, NASCAR introduced changes to the waiver system over the offseason.
Beginning in 2025, any driver who misses a race for anything other than a medical reason can still receive a waiver, but they must forfeit all playoff points earned in the regular season, including those earned further down the road.
This effectively means that, should they indeed qualify for the playoffs, they are guaranteed to start 16th and last in the standings when the playoffs begin, regardless of their regular season points finish, win total, or stage win total.
What NASCAR did not do was introduce anything for the in-season tournament seeding, and as inconsequential as it seems, there have already been complaints about it.
There were three seeding races at Michigan International Speedway, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and Pocono Raceway. Among the 32 eligible drivers (top 32 in the point standings prior to the Michigan race), the driver with the top finish scored the top seed. The tiebreaker was second-best finish, the second tiebreaker was third-best finish, and so on.
Denny Hamlin was awarded the top seed, even after missing the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and yes, fans were vocal about it, with some calling for him to be locked into the No. 32 seed instead of the No. 1 seed.
Yes, on paper, that missed race actually hurt him, since it gave him only two races to lock into a seed rather than three, and he still managed to score both the best finish (win at Michigan) and the best second-best finish (second at Pocono) during that three-race stretch, giving him the tiebreaker over Pocono winner and teammate Chase Briscoe.
Average finish, which he did most certainly aid by missing the Mexico race, was not the criteria here, so that shouldn't even come up in this debate.
For the record, Mexico winner Shane van Gisbergen of Trackhouse Racing was not among the 32 tournament-eligible drivers, so he was not included in the tiebreaker.
But although Hamlin's missed start did not help him at all, you could say the same thing about somebody who misses a regular season race when it comes to the playoffs as well, yet NASCAR still requires all drivers who miss races to receive a waiver in order to remain playoff eligible.
Should something like this be introduced for NASCAR's in-season tournament as well?
Sure, the in-season tournament isn't nearly as important as the playoffs. Given the setup, it's even more a full-fledged gimmick than stages or playoffs or anything else that fans already take to social media to complain about on a weekly, if not daily, basis.
But as long as it gets publicity and promotion as an official NASCAR tournament with a bracket, round-by-round matchups, and ultimately a champion, why not?
Unless NASCAR creates a strict rule about running all three races, Hamlin probably would have gotten a waiver anyway, since he did miss for a medical reason, that being the birth of his third child.
But given some of the frustration (and in some cases, confusion) over Hamlin's No. 1 seed, which came despite the fact that he only ran two of those three events, NASCAR should probably consider introducing something similar to the playoff waiver system for future in-season tournaments, if the idea does end up lasting longer than just this year.
To help clear up a little bit of that confusion, it is worth mentioning that all five tournament races are still classified as typical regular season races, in the grand scheme of things. And even after drivers are "eliminated", they are still allowed to compete in future tournament races, much like the playoffs.
So it's not like somebody would intentionally sit out of a seeding race, just because they already won. But that is true when it comes to the playoffs too, yet NASCAR still has the waiver system.
Of course, Hamlin's No. 1 seed meant nothing after all, as he was eliminated in the opening round by No. 32 seed Ty Dillon at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Such is the nature of drafting tracks, and having a superspeedway lead off the tournament was effectively an "equalizer" that rendered the seeding process pretty much useless and turned the tournament itself into a game of roulette.
If anything, Hamlin being dropped to the No. 32 seed could have screwed things up for other drivers who happened to back into favorable matchups against drivers behind Hamlin at No. 1.
Still, if NASCAR wants consistency when it comes to its playoff and in-season championship-deciding formats, it would technically make sense to have an official waiver system applied for both, should a driver's absence come during the three seeding races.
The second tournament race is the Grant Park 165, which is set to be broadcast live on TNT Sports from the Chicago Street Course beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 6.