Sunday night’s Monza Madness iRacing event hosted by Landon Cassill was supposed to be eventful in more ways than one, but not what NASCAR fans heard from Kyle Larson.
Larson reportedly said a six-letter, racial slur that starts with the letter ‘N’ while trying to get the attention of one of the other drivers in the race. It appears he thought that his audio wasn’t available to everyone.
Update 12 – 9:25 p.m. ET
Clover is the latest company to pull its sponsorship according to Bob Pockrass.
Fiserv (Clover is its point-of-sale platform) terminates Larson sponsorship. Statement: “We denounce the language used during Sunday’s iRacing event. We support the actions taken today by NASCAR & the Chip Ganassi Racing Team, and are terminating our sponsorship of Kyle Larson.”
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 14, 2020
Update 11 – 9:15 p.m. ET
Lucas Oil has suspended Larson as well.
“Due to the offensive language used by NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson during Sunday night’s iRacing event, Lucas Oil is indefinitely suspending its sponsorship with him, effective immediately. Lucas Oil has a zero-tolerance policy regarding the use of such harmful language, and we stand by the actions taken by iRacing, NASCAR, and the Chip Ganassi Racing Team.
Update 10 – 5:52 p.m. ET
Plan B Sales tweeted this statement that states they are backing Larson.
— PlanBSales.com (@PlanBSales) April 13, 2020
Update 9 – 5:50 p.m. ET
AdventHealth has now came out and denounced Larson’s actions, but they will stay with Larson. They issued the statement below.
“As an organization that is focused on creating a culture of inclusiveness and wholeness for our patients and team members, we denounce Kyle Larson’s use of a racial slur during a virtual race over the weekend. AdventHealth was not a sponsor of the event, but does have an ongoing partnership with his team, Chip Ganassi Racing. We support decisive actions taken by NASCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing.”
Update 8 – 5:30 p.m. ET
McDonald’s has now also terminated its sponsorship with Kyle Larson. The company’s statement is listed below.
“We were extremely disappointed and appalled to hear about this incident. The comments made by Kyle Larson are insensitive, offensive, and not reflective of our inclusive values and will not be tolerated. McDonald’s is taking immediate action to terminate the relationship with Larson.”
Update 7 – 5:15 p.m. ET
One sponsor – Finley Farms – announces that the company will stick with Larson in a tweet issued on Monday afternoon.
Finley farms will continue to support @KyleLarsonRacin sprint car efforts! We all make mistakes, and deserve a second chance!
— Jason Finley (@finleyfarmsinc) April 13, 2020
Update 6 – 5:10 p.m. ET
Credit One Bank has now updated its previous statement, and has dropped its sponsorship with Larson.
“As stated earlier, Credit One Bank denounces the highly offensive language used by Kyle Larson during Sunday’s iRacing event. In addition to the quick actions taken by NASCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing. Credit One Bank is terminating its sponsorship of Kyle Larson.”
Update 5 – 3:10 p.m. ET
Chevrolet has suspended its sponsorship and relationship with Larson. The company was a big sponsor of Larson’s World of Outlaws team.
“Chevrolet has suspended its relationship with Kyle Larson indefinitely, as we do not tolerate this behavior. We will continue to monitor the events surrounding Mr. Larson and are prepared to take additional action.”
Update 4 – 1:16 p.m. ET
Credit One Bank, one of Larson’s sponsors, is the latest to issue a statement regarding the incident.
“Credit One Bank denounces the highly offensive language used by Kyle Larson during Sunday’s iRacing event. We support the quick actions taken by NASCAR and the Chip Ganassi Racing Team to suspend Kyle indefinitely.”
Update 3 – 1:10 p.m. ET
Kyle Larson – who issued a video statement that can be found here – has now been suspended by iRacing. There statement is below.
“iRacing considers itself to be a welcome and inclusive community for racing enthusiasts all around the world. We have strict policies against offensive behavior and language. Kyle Larson’s language last night during a streamed online race was both offensive and inappropriate, and in violation of our sporting code. As such, Kyle Larson has been suspended indefinitely from the iRacing service.”
Update 2 – 11:35 a.m. ET
NASCAR has issued its statement regarding the news and will also be suspending Larson.
The series will also make Larson attend sensitivity training according to a tweet from Bob Pockrass.
“NASCAR has made diversity and inclusion a priority and will not tolerate the type of language used by Kyle Larson during Sunday’s iRacing event. Our Member Conduct Guidelines are clear in this regard, and we will enforce these guidelines to maintain an inclusive environment for our entire industry and fan base.”
Update 1 – 10:35 a.m. ET
Larson has been suspended, indefinitely, by Chip Ganassi Racing without pay. The team issued the statement below.
“We are extremely disappointed by what Kyle said last night during an iRacing Event. The words that he chose to use are offensive and unacceptable. As of this moment we are suspending Kyle without pay.”
Kyle Larson says a racial slur in an iRacing Stream
The video of the incident can be seen below courtesy of a Twitch streamer that goes by Davin. Please caution if watching the video that the original audio is used – it’s not safe for work.
Here's the video of what is presumably Kyle Larson saying a racial slur over the #MonzaMadness stream tonight.
Not a good look.
Video: @DriveThrough_ pic.twitter.com/IksOG3aQVm
— Connor Ferguson (@cfchangs9) April 13, 2020
Some believe the voice heard on the video not to be Kyle Larson’s however, Autoweek – among others – is reporting that it is, indeed, his.
Larson has been very busy on iRacing in the last few weeks, winning one of the NBCSN Short Track Series races.
He’s also competed in Sunday’s NASCAR Pro Invitational Series events as well as the World of Outlaws weekly invitationals and FS1 TV series.
NASCAR has suspended a driver – Jeremy Clements – in the past for such an incident that occurred in an interview for violating the series’ code of conduct.
NASCAR said in a statement ‘is aware of insensitive language used by a driver during an iRacing event on Sunday, and is currently gathering more information.’
There has been no statement issued currently by Kyle Larson, nor Chip Ganassi Racing. We will update this story as new statements or updates come out.
For more breaking news and updates, please consider following our departments’ handle, @RacingVault, on both Twitter and Instagram.
