NASCAR driver’s old comments resurface amid controversy

Deemed controversial at the time, Matt DiBenedetto’s “insensitive” comments serve as a perfect illustration of what went down between fellow NASCAR drivers Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin.

It’s typically not a good thing when a topic not related to NASCAR racing dominates NASCAR headlines during a week between Cup Series races. But that was the case between last Sunday afternoon’s race at Talladega Superspeedway and this Sunday afternoon’s race at Dover Motor Speedway.

Coming to the checkered flag last week, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson made an ill-advised move to the outside that took out multiple cars, including both the 23XI Racing Toyotas of Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace.

23XI Racing team co-owner Denny Hamlin wasn’t happy with Larson, but given the fact that he and Larson are close friends, he expressed his frustration on Twitter in what he believed was a funny way: sharing a clip from Family Guy of a woman attempting to “cut across eight lanes” without using a signal — and adding footage of Larson’s move to it.

The two clips blended together perfectly, but many took offense to it.

The woman in the video was an Asian woman, and Larson is of Asian descent. Many saw the post as promoting a racial stereotype. Hamlin defended it at first in a separate tweet, but he later deleted both the video and the additional tweet and issued an apology. NASCAR then got involved themselves, requiring Hamlin to take sensitivity training.

As usual, several fans thought NASCAR’s response was ridiculous, while others felt that it was a fair punishment and could provide him with a learning opportunity.

Regardless, the issue brought to the forefront some comments that were made by another NASCAR driver last season after NASCAR required Kyle Busch to take sensitivity training for using an offensive word in an interview after the playoff race at Martinsville.

Responding to NASCAR requiring Busch to take sensitivity training, Matt DiBenedetto stated, “I feel like living on planet Earth in 2021 is permanent sensitivity training *laughing emoji*” on Twitter.

He then posted another message, “Trying to bring light hearted humor to our crazy world *laughing emoji*”, on his Instagram story.

But fans — presumably those looking for something to be upset about — misconstrued DiBenedetto’s remarks as minimizing the need for Busch to take sensitivity training, which clearly wasn’t the point of what he was saying.

In fact, the criticism directed at DiBenedetto became so bad that he deactivated his Twitter account for a period of time, but not before making the following statement.

"“Comments below are proving my point. Social media and this day in age made me sad. Attacking people has become the norm even through light hearted humor. We as humans are our own worst enemies”"

If any situation has proven DiBenedetto correct, it was this past week’s situation with Larson and Hamlin.

All DiBenedetto was ever saying is that you need to be extra careful in this day and age with what you say and post. Who can disagree with that? Look at what social media has turned into. You really do have to be careful with what you put out there, because it can certainly be twisted into something that can be used against you if the wrong people get ahold of it.

Earlier this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway, Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass spoke to both Hamlin and Larson about the issue.

Whether they realized it or not, both echoed the exact same idea for which DiBenedetto was criticized.

Hamlin admitted that he found the video hilarious, as many did. In fact, he probably still does, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

However, he pointed out that it could also be considered offensive to others, and that in his position, he needs to be extra careful to make sure he doesn’t come across as putting anybody down, even if that isn’t what he meant to do.

Likewise, Larson said that he wasn’t offended by the tweet. However, going along with DiBenedetto’s — and Hamlin’s — claim, he reiterated the fact that you really do need to be careful with what you post, especially considering the position that these drivers are in and how many people look up to them.

To this day, the criticism at DiBenedetto for his statements makes no sense. But it’s always nice when you can look back several months later and think, “I was right”. He sure was. And we’d all be a lot better off if we listened to common sense instead of jumping straight to criticism because we took something the wrong way.