Recently, former NASCAR driver, Kyle Petty, expressed his fascination with the thought process of some NASCAR fans who believe that Chase Elliott, after his snowboarding injury, should not be given a waiver for his injury. According to Petty, some fans believe, “if you get hurt driving a race car, it’s okay to get a waiver, but if you get hurt snowboarding, no! You don’t get that.”

After Elliott’s accident, which resulted in a fractured tibia, Petty believes that Elliott should get a waiver, regardless of whether he injury is NASCAR-related or not. Petty argues that fans praise drivers like Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson, who race in various series, but are quick to judge Elliott for getting hurt while snowboarding.

Talking on the NASCAR on NBC Podcast, the 62-year-old said, “You know, we praise… god bless the NASCAR fans, you know, we praise Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson and all these guys that go out and race 6 nights a week and win sprint cars and go karts and midgets and whatever they wanna race but you know, ‘God forbid you can’t go snow boarding to get hurt?’ Right?”

“You just can’t do that people… I don’t know where yawl have been but ‘you just can’t do that’.”

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Petty’s argument is valid as NASCAR has granted waivers to drivers before.

Will NASCAR grant Chase Elliott a waiver after injury?

Over time, NASCAR drivers such as Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth have been granted multi-race waivers. In 2015, Kyle Busch received an unprecedented waiver that allowed him to miss ten races after being injured in a NASCAR-related accident during the Xfinity Series at Daytona International Speedway.

Similarly, in 2016, Tony Stewart was granted an eight-race waiver due to a back injury that he sustained in an all-terrain incident before the season began. Finally, in 2020, Matt Kenseth missed the first four races of the season, but was still approved to participate in the playoffs after being granted a waiver.

NASCAR requires drivers to start every race to be eligible for the playoffs, and Elliott would need a waiver to compete provided he wins a race in the regular season.

As reported by nascar.nbcsports.com, the sport’s senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer believes Elliott is likely to receive the waiver. Sawyer said that a similar situation had arisen with Tony Stewart, who was granted a waiver for an off-track injury.

Petty also supported Sawyer’s view, citing the medical waiver for illness, injury, or a death in the family. Petty expressed his concerns about how Elliott’s injury could affect the team, given that the recovery period was expected to be six weeks.

Petty added, “Obviously this was a little bit more intense than just ‘Hey I twisted my ankle, gotta wear cast for six weeks’, it’s a little bit more intense than that..” It seems obvious that NASCAR is likely to take measures which may fall in favor of Chase Elliott.

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While it is not certain that NASCAR will grant Elliott a waiver, Kyle Petty’s argument is worth considering. An injury is an injury, regardless of how it happened, and the medical waiver is meant for injuries and illnesses.

As Kyle Petty puts it, “I don’t care how your hurt, or what happens, that’s what the medical waiver’s for. The medical waiver is for injury and illness, a death in the family, whatever it maybe man… that’s what it’s for so, I look at it more as how will that affect the team?”