“Give him a waiver”: Fans remember Double controversy as Kyle Larson balances Knoxville Nationals & NASCAR at Richmond

Fans reacted to Kyle Larson's tight schedule over this upcoming weekend, reflecting on the latter's 'Double Duty' fail from earlier this year. The 2021 Cup Series champion has two jobs to execute over the upcoming weekend: qualifying for the A-main of the 63rd Knoxville Nationals, and running the practice and qualifying laps for the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.

Back in May, Kyle Larson missed this year's Coca-Cola 600 as he failed to fly back to Charlotte after running the rain-delayed Indianapolis 500. This weekend's schedule is going to be quite as jam-packed for the Hendrick Motorsports icon. Larson is looking forward to defending his title in the Knoxville Nationals (August 7th-10th) and competing in Sunday's Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

Practice at Richmond will begin on Saturday at 4:30 PM and continue till 5:15 PM, followed by the qualifying session from 5:35 PM to 6:30 PM. Meanwhile, the Hot Laps at Knoxville Raceway will commence at 7 PM and the race will begin an hour later.

If Larson fails to qualify for the A-Main, he will have no choice but to fight for a spot through Friday's FVP Hard Knox Qualifying Night. Speaking of which, Veteran FOX Sports journalist Bob Pockrass took to X (formerly Twitter) and said,

"Kyle Larson needs to make the A-Main to be able to get from Richmond back to Knoxville on Saturday night (he wouldn’t get back in time for any earlier races). TBD if he doesn’t qualify out of tonight on whether he would stay and try Friday night."

Several fans reacted to Bob Pockrass' post with one demanding a waiver for Kyle Larson, also known as Yung Money in the arena of sprint car racing.

"Give him a waiver. That’s why they call him yung waiver," the fan said.

Another fan wrote,

"Once again he will put NASCAR 2nd.. damn."

Here are a few other reactions to Bob Pockrass' post:

"Maybe Nascar will give him a waiver to miss practice/qualifying & the race," a fan commented.

"NASCAR should just push start time back so he can do both," said another.

"Knoxville Nationals > Richmond race," someone added.

According to NASCAR's rulebook, a driver has to compete in all regular season races to be playoff-eligible. However, NASCAR granted Kyle Larson a playoff waiver after he had missed the Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Now, will it come down to where NASCAR has to issue Kyle Larson a second playoff waiver? Only time will tell.

"This is every sprint car racer's dream"- Kyle Larson on pole banner at Knoxville

Kyle Larson is a two-time Knoxville Nationals winner. He is also the reigning champion in the event. Last year, Larson wheeled the No. 57 Silva Motorsports machine to the victory lane, sweeping all 50 laps of the event.

Therefore, Knoxville Raceway recently honored Larson by dedicating a Championship pole pillar to his name and putting up a poster with his picture on it. Larson was present at the event with his son, Owen. Later, he uploaded a couple of pictures of the same on Instagram and captioned them:

"So cool to have another pole banner at @knoxvilleraceway! This is every sprint car racer’s dream."

Remarkably, with his 2023 victory in what the sprint racers call "The Granddaddy of them all", Larson etched his name as the only second driver alongside Donny Schatz to lead all 50 laps of the prestigious event.