NASCAR: Kyle Larson opens up about his huge mistake

Former Chip Ganassi Racing NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson opened up about the huge mistake he made back in April that cost him his job.

When Kyle Larson drove his #42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet to a fourth place finish at Phoenix Raceway back on Sunday, March 8 to vault himself into a seventh place tie in the championship standings, nobody expected that to be the final NASCAR Cup Series race for more than two months.

Nobody expected it to be Larson’s last NASCAR race of the year, either.

The sport was forced to suspend the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, and many of the drivers ended up competing in various iRacing events with other drivers, including drivers from other racing series around the world.

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On Sunday, April 12, Easter Sunday, just under a month after NASCAR officially suspended the 2020 season indefinitely, Larson and a number of others, including two-time and reigning IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden, were competing in a virtual NASCAR race on iRacing at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Larson used the N-word as the race was being live streamed on Twitch, and what happened next was all but inevitable. The 28-year-old Elk Grove, California native was suspended indefinitely by both Chip Ganassi Racing and NASCAR, and it was mandated that he complete sensitivity training before returning behind the wheel.

But then the financial impact struck.

Several of Chip Ganassi Racing’s sponsors, including McDonald’s and Credit One Bank, cut ties with the driver of the #42 Chevrolet. Chevrolet even suspended their relationship with him indefinitely. To add insult to injury, iRacing suspended him as well.

Unsurprisingly, Larson ended up being fired shortly after his initial suspensions were handed down.

He has competed in (and won) dozens of dirt track races since his firing; that’s all he’s been allowed to do. But he has been clear that he wants to return to NASCAR.

Over the weekend, Larson wrote a 1,789-word post titled “Kyle Larson: My Lessons Learned” and published it on his website.

His work details his mistake and how ignorance, not an intent to harm, led him to make it, and he discussed how he has gone about being a better individual — in many respects — since then.

He admitted that he thought he was in a private channel and how that detail could lead fans to believe that he makes a habit of saying the word.

While he is adamant that this isn’t the case and he touched on how he ended up in a position where he was able to say it so nonchalantly, he doesn’t hold it against anybody for doubting him.

This post is currently the only accessible page on his website, and it is well worth a read not just for Larson fans or NASCAR fans but for anybody who is even somewhat familiar with the situation which quickly went viral almost a half-year ago.

Larson does not yet have a ride lined up for the 2021 season, but there have been recent rumblings about potential landing spots for him next year with multiple seats still open at some of the sport’s top teams, including Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing.

Ross Chastain has already been confirmed as the driver of the #42 Chevrolet, however, so a return to Chip Ganassi Racing, at least in 2021, isn’t in the works. 2003 champion Matt Kenseth was Larson’s replacement for the rest of the 2020 season, but at 48 years old, he was never seen as a long-term option.

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Larson has not yet applied for reinstatement by NASCAR despite having completed the required sensitivity training, but he really has no reason to do so unless he has a potential ride lined up.

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