NASCAR: Kyle Larson is back racing again already
By Asher Fair
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson is set to race again this Friday, albeit not in NASCAR, for the first time since using a racial slur. He is slated to compete in the World of Outlaws Invitational at Knoxville Raceway.
Former Chip Ganassi Racing NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson is set to get back to the race track before many of the other Cup Series drivers, drivers who weren’t fired from their jobs for using a racial slur during this coronavirus pandemic.
Larson is set to compete for his own Kyle Larson Racing sprint car team in the World of Outlaws Invitational at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa this Friday, May 8.
The races that are slated to make up this event will be run without fans, and they are set to be the first World of Outlaws winged sprint races since February, before all of the recent postponements and cancellations.
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The 27-year-old Elk Grove, California native lost his job as the driver of the #42 Chevrolet after using the N-word during a NASCAR race on iRacing at virtual Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Sunday, April 12. This race was being live streamed on several Twitch channels when Larson used the racial slur.
He was suspended indefinitely without pay by Chip Ganassi Racing the following day before NASCAR upped his suspension by mandating that he complete sensitivity training before he could be reinstated.
Primary sponsors Credit One Bank and McDonald’s also cut ties with him, and Chevrolet suspended their relationship with him as well, effectively forcing Chip Ganassi to fire him if they wanted to avoid losing millions of dollars in sponsorship.
The team replaced him with Matt Kenseth for the remainder of the 2020 season. Larson had been slated to become a free agent after this year.
Notably, the World of Outlaws also stated that Larson could only resume competing once he completed sensitivity training, and a spokesman for the series stated that he met the requirements to get back behind the wheel.
Larson, who has not competed in any form of racing since the incident, is still suspended indefinitely from NASCAR, although that may not make a huge difference at this point given that the odds of him coming back in 2020 are slim.
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The six-time Cup Series race winner has not issued any sort of public statement about the incident since he was fired, although he did issue an apology via video after he was suspended.