NASCAR changes waiver policy, drivers who miss a race not due to injury will lose playoff points

NASCAR is changing its waiver policy that allows drivers to miss a race without losing playoff eligibility, effectively simplifying the rule a year after a controversial debate over granting a waiver to title challenger Kyle Larson.

The policy change announced Friday will take effect for the 2025 season, which begins next month. The new wording states that if a driver misses a race for any reason other than injury, they will then forfeit any play-off points accumulated for that season. Drivers who miss the race(s) for health reasons will not be subject to loss of play-off points.

Drivers already must compete in all 26 regular-season Cup Series races to make the playoffs, but NASCAR regularly waives those who have excused absences.

Last year, even Kyle Larson received an exemption after choosing to run the Indianapolis 500 instead of NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same day that Indy was delayed due to weather. However, if this were to happen again – and in the unlikely event that NASCAR granted Larson a waiver a second time – Larson would start the playoffs with no points. Drivers earn “play-off points” throughout the regular season, which gives them an advantage for the final 10 weeks that decide the championship; except that a driver who is not on sick leave will forfeit all past and future playoff points for the season.

Exceptions to this rule currently include medical reasons, the birth of a child or family emergency, and age restrictions (e.g. a driver who is not old enough to race for the full season).

However, this means that the new rules will not include suspension as a valid reason; if a driver is suspended for a race due to an on- or off-track incident, he or she can still advance to the playoffs, but will thereby lose all playoff points.

NASCAR’s waiver policy was first implemented in 2014 when it adopted a playoff format that emphasized winning to qualify as both a way to encourage drivers to compete in all 36 races and to reduce the burden of with racing in case of injury. In the previous format, it was not uncommon for an injured driver to race in order not to lose valuable points.

The system largely worked as intended, ensuring that drivers did not race injured or return from injury before sufficient recovery. In 2015, Kyle Busch missed the first 11 races of the season with serious leg injuries before returning to win the championship. If the waiver policy had not been in place, Busch would have had no chance of winning the title in his first series.

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(Photo: Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images)