As we continue to starve for sports leagues to return, the way NASCAR is going, there may be no one to return the way the drivers are behaving. My last sports blog post was about NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace and him losing a major sponsor because of getting mad during an eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race and quitting the race after he was spun out by fellow NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer. This week's talker from the iRacing NASCAR Series is because of the choices made by NASCAR driver Kyle Larson.
Kyle Larson has been one of NASCAR's most popular drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Series for a handful of years and was continuing to improve as the years went on. Kyle Larson came on to NASCAR's main stage for a handful of races in the 2013 season and ended up being named the 2014 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year. This is Kyle Larson's eighth season in NASCAR's top series and has raced a total of 223 races. Out of those 223 races, Larson has won six races, has 101 top ten finishes, and has won the pole position for a race eight times. Kyle Larson was one of NASCAR's rising stars and was also set to be the top free agent after the 2020 season. That is, until the choice he made.
On Sunday, April 12th, Kyle Larson made the choice to drop the n-word during the simulated race that he was participating in. Apparently, Larson claimed he thought that he was only being heard by his team of fellow drivers, but everyone heard it. That is when the chips began to fall and fall fast. After the incident, three of Kyle Larson's major sponsors decided to end their sponsorship deals with his team. Those sponsors were Capital One Bank, McDonald's and Clover. Target was once a major sponsor of Chip Ganassi Racing and Kyle Larson, but ended that relationship as Target decided to reallocate sponsor dollars to the sport of soccer. One day after those three current major sponsors ended their relationship with Kyle Larson, so did Chip Ganassi Racing. Kyle Larson took to Twitter on Tuesday to apologize for his choices, and I am one that watched that apology. While Kyle Larson said the right things in his apology, to me, it felt very scripted. It had a feel of his agent saying that he needed to get out there and do some damage control. I also feel like the apology was made because he was caught for the choice he made instead of actually feeling like he was in the wrong. That is just my opinion, others may see it differently.
In the end, as time heals things, Kyle Larson may be fine and may end up back in the sport again. Usually in these cases, a team that is desperate enough, will roll the dice and take a chance. Unfortunately, an athlete recovering from a disaster will bring a team more press coverage than they would otherwise get and that is too bad. I do think that Kyle being a free agent now will cost him millions of dollars instead of doing the right thing and becoming a free agent at the end of the 2020 season. However, I don't feel bad for the guy. Before this choice was made, I liked what Kyle Larson was bringing to the race track. I felt like he was the real deal and he did continue to get better year after year. It was refreshing to see a guy like Kyle Larson start winning races instead of the typical four or five guys that were always in the winners circle. It was good for the sport and now that has changed to a scar for the sport. I am glad to see his sponsors and his team owner hold him accountable for his choices. I am a big believer in accountability. I think accountability is healthy. He has made one public apology for an inexcusable choice. The n-word is an inexcusable choice and something that shouldn't be tolerated period. Now he has said the right thing, once, after his choice, now it is time for him to show it through actions to have a chance to even consider the possibility of forgiveness not only from Kyle Larson racing fans, but also just racing and sports fans in general. I don't wish ill will on the guy, but I don't think he deserves a second chance in the future for his inexcusable choice.
Be Kind To Everyone.
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