For a sport that has been literally built on rules being broken – or at least bent – NASCAR is once again missing out on some very positive news at a time when it needs it most, given Thursday’s tragic passing of Kyle Busch.

NASCAR had a great opportunity to bypass its own rules for immediate Hall of Fame induction for Greg Biffle, who along with his wife, two kids and three others, died in a plane crash last December in Statesville, N.C. I would challenge ANYONE who could come up with one good reason to keep Biffle out, because I believe there is no one that could.

Inducting Biffle in this past January’s Hall of Fame ceremonies was a no-brainer. Yet, NASCAR chose not to circumvent its own rules. And then to add insult to injury, and due to its limitation of only three nominees to be inducted each year, Biffle again was ignored for the Class of 2027, which was announced earlier this week (Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Larry Phillips).

The earliest The Biff – who was first eligible for induction consideration this year – may be inducted now is the Class of 2028, nothing short of a sacrilege in my opinion.

And now, in light of Kyle Busch’s inconceivable passing, again, can ANYONE give me one good reason that his name (and Biffle’s) can’t be automatically included in the Class of 2027, rules be damned?

Here’s what NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell had to say

Friday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, newly-promoted NASCAR president and CEO Steve O’Donnell talked about Busch’s passing and what it means to the sport, what the sport will do to honor him, etc.

Late in the press conference, and after O’Donnell had already conceded in earlier comments that he believed Busch was unquestionably a first ballot Hall of Famer, NASCAR’s No. 1 guy was asked whether NASCAR could simply add Busch to the three that were already named.

It should have been a slam-dunk.

Instead, O’Donnell replied, “You know, I don’t know. I know that, you know, we’d put that on the list of ideas that we want to look at.

“I think I said earlier there’s things we want to do this weekend and then we have a little bit more time to think about, what we could do, as well in the future and, who knows, that could be something we look at.”

I’m sorry, but O’Donnell is the No. 1 guy in NASCAR. He doesn’t have a boss (unless you consider the board of directors), he’s Numero Uno. The buck stops with him.

So in much the same way President Donald Trump can issue executive orders, why couldn’t O’Donnell simply issue an executive order that makes both Busch and Biffle immediately eligible and would be inducted into the Hall of Fame next January? I’m quite sure that Harvick, Burton and Phillips’ survivors would not mind one bit to share the spotlight with Busch and Biffle.

Can you imagine the good publicity and goodwill such an action would bring to both NASCAR as a whole and O’Donnell as its leader?

What would have happened if it was Dale Earnhardt?

I hate to use hypotheticals, but here’s one that further strengthens my contention: what would have happened if the NASCAR Hall of Fame had been created before 2001 (it actually inducted its first class in 2010), when Dale Earnhardt was killed in a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500?

Do you honestly think the leader of NASCAR at the time, Bill France Jr., wouldn’t have called up the Hall of Fame and simply said in his rough, gravely voice, “Get it done — NOW!”

And Earnhardt would have been in the Hall quicker than you can say “The Intimidator.” It should be the same case today with Busch and Biffle.

There are several examples of early induction precedent in Other Halls of Fame

Some of you may think there’s never been a similar precedent in any other sport that overrode eligibility rules to make an active player who died to be immediately eligible for induction, instead of the usual three-to-five year waiting period for nomination and then induction.

Many young NASCAR fans – or more precisely, young sports fans in general – may never have heard of the name of Major League Baseball star Roberto Clemente. But old-timers know the legacy of the Pittsburgh Pirates superstar who was tragically killed on December 31, 1972, when the plane he was on board, which was delivering humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua, crashed shortly after takeoff near San Juan, Puerto Rico.

There’s no question that Clemente, then 38, was eventually a bonafide first ballot pick for the Baseball Hall of Fame, even if he hadn’t lost his life in that tragic crash.

To the credit of both Major League Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and Hall of Fame officials, the usual five-year waiting period for a player to be eligible for nomination after their retirement from the game was promptly waived and Clemente was rightly inducted into the Hall just seven months later on August 6, 1973.

Kuhn was considered a hero by baseball fans everywhere for pushing for Clemente’s induction, even from baseball fans who weren’t necessarily Pirates fans. What Kuhn did wasn’t just a good thing to do, it was the right thing to do to honor Clemente the player, as well as Clemente the humanitarian, who gave his life to help others in dire need. How many of today’s self-centered athletes would do the same? And let’s not forget how Biffle single-handedly helped hurricane victims in western North Carolina two years ago, ferrying supplies and rescuing stranded residents with his helicopter, earning him high praise and several honors for his heroic actions.

Other sport halls of fame have also shortened the timeline for induction into their own respective shrines, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducting Junior Seau in 2015 (three years after he tragically committed suicide due to brain damage from CTE – Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy — but still two years before he would have first been eligible for nomination).

And let’s not forget the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame moved up its five-year waiting period to posthumously induct Kobe Bryant (who would have become eligible in 2022) on May 15, 2021, just over a year after Bryant, his daughter and several others were killed in a helicopter crash in Southern California.

If rules were waived to induct Clemente, Seau and Bryant, why can’t rules be waived to automatically induct Busch and Biffle next January?

I don’t know about you, but to me, inducting Busch and Biffle immediately is not “something we look at.” Rather, there’s no higher way to honor someone’s life and career. Particularly, one of the greatest athletes to play in their respective sport, than to induct them as soon as possible into their respective Hall of Fame.