Statement from Chip Ganassi Racing

“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 while we work through this situation with all appropriate parties.”

From tobychristie.com

Wow. eSports Racing has not gone well lately for NASCAR stars. First, Bubba Wallace lost sponsor Blue-Emu after rage quitting early in last Sunday’s iRacing eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series event at Bristol.

Now, on Easter, Kyle Larson, too, had a moment during a virtual race that could impact his racing career.

During Landon Cassill’s Monza Madness event, Larson dropped a racially charged word on the driver voice chat.

In addition to the race broadcast being streamed on eNASCAR.com, many of the 60 drivers in the event had their own POV stream of the race. This is where the word was heard. Larson, apparently, didn’t realize that the radio communication he was sending out was going to the other drivers.

Larson, of course, paved his way up the NASCAR ladder through the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program. This program was created in 2004 in an effort to give aspiring minority and female drivers a better chance at racing competitively in the sport.

Larson was a member of the program in 2012.

No word from Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing or their sponsors has been heard as of yet regarding the video above, but this was not a good look for the NASCAR Cup Series driver.