CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ Kyle Larson has been fired by Chip Ganassi Racing, a day after nearly every one of his sponsors dropped the star driver for using a racial slur during a live stream of a virtual race.
Larson was in his seventh Cup season with Ganassi and had been prepping to test free agency for the first time. Just weeks ago, the 27-year-old was considered the top free agent in NASCAR. Now he is out of a job in what could ultimately be an eight-figure blunder.
The unraveling began Sunday night when Larson was competing in one of the iRacing virtual events drivers are playing during the sports stoppage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Larson appeared to lose communication on his headset with his spotter. During a check of his microphone, he asked his spotter, “You can’t hear me?” That was followed by the N-word. The slur from Larson was directed at his spotter, who is white.
He was suspended without pay by Ganassi early Monday, then suspended indefinitely by NASCAR and Larson, who is half Japanese, was ordered to complete a sensitivity training. But his entire program fell apart as primary sponsors McDonalds and Credit One Bank pulled their funding from Larson. Chevrolet suspended its relationship with him, and all but one commercial partner denounced Larson’s comment and indicated they were ending their relationship.
Ganassi says it decided to end its relationship with Larson when “it became obvious that this was the only appropriate course of action to take.” It called Larson’s comments “offensive and unacceptable especially given the values of our organization.”