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🏎 Silly Season Starting Early

🏎 Silly Season Starting Early

Perez is in and Ocon is out and other major changes for 2025 are announced

Kyle Dager
June 05, 2024

Good morning! It’s a great day as we finally found out that Kyle Larson has officially received a playoff waiver from NASCAR! But more importantly, The Double is still alive!

Parker’s POV

It’s A Mystery

"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing all your life." — Mickey Mantle

It’s funny how this applies to all sports, but maybe even more to racing. Recently, I’ve realized that in racing, we are constantly trying to solve mysteries. When you consider all the variables, it’s almost mind-boggling.

Tires (made by humans), pressures set by humans, thousands of engine parts, the weather, and all the other competitors trying to beat you—it constantly adds up. And when things don’t go the way you want, more often than not, you have no idea why. Thus, it becomes about solving mysteries, sometimes with no answers. For us at Portland this past weekend in the Xfinity series, we wondered why it was so hard to pass.

We discovered this when we were in the top 5 in stage 1 and then had a bad pit stop that put us back in 20th. It took forever to get back, and afterward, we sat there dumbfounded. Then the dissection begins, and we go about solving as many mysteries as we can before moving on to the mysteries of the next race.

And it goes on and on. As I write this, I’m sitting at the Oakland A's stadium in Oakland, CA, with my race team as we spend a week on the west coast between these two races.

Of course, I watched Moneyball last night to get ready because it’s my favorite movie of all time. I’ve always wanted to come here, and even in this oddly empty stadium (as the A's are leaving Oakland), I realized something.

The mystery that is racing may be one of its toughest challenges to overcome. In a game like baseball, it’s easy to see the skill and athleticism, but in racing, it’s a bit of a mystery.

Can you always see a tenth of a second difference in cornering speed? Not really.

Can you always see why one driver is better than another? Not really.

It’s always going to be a mystery to the public, which may mean it has a natural ceiling to how well it can connect with everyone.

And it’s even this way with the finances. As the NASCAR cup teams negotiate their charter agreements, it’s a mystery.

And it’s a mystery that this massive empty coliseum is the home of the worst team in baseball right now, yet it’s worth an estimated $1.2 billion.

If you combined all 36 charters together at $30 million each (the estimated last transfer price), they only achieve $1.08 billion.

With racing’s ceiling blocked by mystery, that actually makes sense.

↔️ Alpine and Ocon agree to part ways at the end of season

💥 Kyle Busch Crashes in Goodyear Tire Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

🙏 Remembering Parnelli Jones

🤬 Canapino responds to online attacks against Pourchaire

✌️ Arrow McLaren hoping Larson takes a second swing at Indy 500

👋 MotoGP championship leader Martín leaving Ducati for Aprilia

Kyle Larson (Finally) Receives NASCAR Playoff Waiver

NASCAR has granted Kyle Larson a playoff waiver after missing the Coca-Cola 600, calling it a “unique situation.” 🌧️

"Uncharted waters" is how NASCAR’s VP of Competition, Elton Sawyer, described the decision. Despite missing the race due to weather delays, Larson is still in the running for the 2024 Cup title.

"The ultimate decision we wanted to get to was the right decision," Sawyer emphasized, praising the process and teamwork.

Larson attempted the grueling Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500 double but was thwarted by weather. He managed to run the 500 but missed the start of the 600, with Justin Allgaier stepping in.

Despite the chaos, NASCAR remains firm on the rulebook. "The ‘Double’ is great," said Sawyer, underlining the sport’s commitment to its stars and fans.