It would appear that NASCAR drivers are no better than the worst esports gamers among us. An iRacing esports event with NASCAR drivers — the same sort of pandemic-inspired online event that saw driver Bubba Wallace ragequit — has once more gotten a spotlight for all the wrong reasons as driver Kyle Larson uttered a racial slur live during a race this past Sunday.
The slur was dropped when Larson appeared to lose communication with his spotter on his headset. During a mic check, Larson asked, “You can’t hear me?” followed by the n-word. Drivers in the chat reportedly immediately reacted to the slur, with one person quickly mentioning, “Kyle, you’re talking to everyone, bud.”
At the time of this writing, there has been no report of action against Larson, either by his sponsors or his team. Larson’s Twitter account and the website for his race team Chip Ganassi Racing are thus far utterly silent. Readers will also recall that Wallace’s ragequit during his event on April 5th immediately saw his primary sponsor drop him.
Suddenly, a ragequitting doesn’t seem so awful.
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) April 13, 2020
