NASCAR Through the Gears: Why Kyle Larson wants a sunny Indy. Court case rattles along

Friday news dumps are where organizations go to release info they hope to bury on the low-key radar.

It’s the timing NASCAR employed this past week to unload some big-news changes to the way it does things — you know, the rulebook.

If anyone in the big GlassCar building on Speedway Boulevard considered any of this controversial, let’s assume it’s the amendment that could easily be called “The Kyle Larson Rule.”

Let’s start there and go through the gears on these rules changes, and finally end the run with the latest update about the previously most recent update on the updated courtroom affairs. Pending appeal, of course.

A WHITE ROLEX? Will it snow on Rolex 24 test at Daytona International Speedway? It’s happened before

DAYTONA FIXIN’ TO GET LOUD: Daytona 500, Rolex 24 headline upcoming NASCAR, IMSA noise. New Smyrna, Barberville too

First Gear: The Indy-Charlotte double gets squeezed

This all started last May when Kyle Larson’s spirited run in the Indy 500 was delayed by rain, forcing him to miss the start of that night’s Coke 600 in Charlotte.

Except it didn’t “force” Kyle to miss the start of the NASCAR race. He chose to, along with team owner Rick Hendrick. Kyle ended up not even running a lap at Charlotte — by the time he choppered in and hustled to the pits, rain had hit Charlotte and the race never restarted.

Lots of internal debate followed in the corner offices, because to be eligible for the NASCAR playoffs, a driver must compete in all of the 26 regular-season races. Kyle obviously didn’t, but after an awkward delay for all precincts to be heard, Kyle got his waiver.

With Kyle signed to run the Indy-Charlotte double again this year, NASCAR clarity was called for. And clarity they brought. This time if Kyle misses the Charlotte race — or if any driver misses any race due to non-exempt causes — NASCAR will decide on the waiver allowance, and by the way, the new rule says the decision isn’t appealable.

And if the waiver is granted, there’s a big price to pay: The driver gives up all playoff points he earns during the regular season and enters the playoffs with the baseline points minimum, which is 2,000. Last year Kyle had 2,040 points to start the playoffs, a 36-point edge over the 16th-place driver.

Oh, the allowable causes for missing a race? Pretty standard: injury, family emergency (including childbirth), etc.

Second Gear: Welcome to the Daytona 500, Helio Castroneves

The rest of these won’t be so hard to digest, promise. And we’ll continue with what might be called the “Helio Rule,” formally known as the Open Exemption Provisional for stars from other forms of racing deemed “world-class drivers.”

Let’s say a team, like Trackhouse Racing, wants to field a car for an open-wheel star, let’s say four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves. NASCAR will set aside a starting spot for that. Granted, it will only be an issue when 40 or more cars are entered, since that’s the max.

Or was the max. If 40-plus show up, as they will for the Daytona 500, a 41st entry will be allowed for a Helio — or a Jensen Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya, Josef Newgarden, etc.

A team must apply for this exemption 90 days in advance, which tells us Trackhouse must’ve known the rule was coming and gave a heads-up a couple of months ago regarding Helio and its desire to enter him in the Feb. 16 Daytona 500.

Third Gear: Take your time with the wrenches (and behave out there)

Here’s one that shouldn’t be controversial.

The new Damaged Vehicle Policy has become less penal for, you know, damaged vehicles.

For several years, teams were allowed seven minutes to repair a damaged car in their pit box. If unable to, or if the car was unable to return to the pits on its own, the car was out of the race.

In earlier times, teams could take a car to the garage, fix it, and get it back on track to hopefully gain a few finishing positions on others, and something maybe just as important: maintain some sponsor exposure on the track and, maybe, on all those color television sets across the land.

With more and more fragmented sponsorship, if Big Ed’s Mufflers is only on a car for three races a year, Big Ed wants his logo out there as much as possible. This is a smart move.

Before leaving third gear, let’s cheat and include this, in order to save top gear for the Boys in Legal.

NASCAR has also taken a big step to avoid what went down at Martinsville last November in the final race of the Round of 8. “Manipulation of finishing order” is a nice way to put it. The manufacturers (Chevy, Ford, Toyota) are now potential targets of such penalties, which could include suspensions and team-related restrictions such as loss of wind-tunnel time, loss of manufacturer points, etc.

Fourth Gear: Michael Jordan leaves the court with a W (pending, of course)

Motions to dismiss cases are rarely granted when there’s not a clear-cut reason to do so. Therefore it’s no shocker that U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth D. Bell said no to NASCAR’s request to make the whole 23XI/Front Row antitrust case go away.

Front Row Motorsports and the 23XI team — co-owned by Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk — have filed an antitrust suit against NASCAR.

On paper, it appears the case is grinding its way toward trial in December of this year. But you never know, as the judge points out at the end of his statement from the bench this past Friday.

“… The answers must be found when the parties have a full opportunity to pursue discovery of the relevant facts and then at trial, where the jury will be able to weigh the evidence and assess the credibility of the witnesses (unless the case is resolved sooner by the parties or the Court).”

— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR news: New rules aimed at Kyle Larson, cheaters. MJ update