In the minutes that follow using the racial slur with the hard “R” on Sunday nightKyle Larson had contacted Bubba Wallace, the only full-time black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, to offer a personal apology.
Larson has since been suspended by NASCAR, lost each of its major Cup Series sponsors and was ultimately fired by Chip Ganassi Racing.
Wallace took to social media Thursday to address a topic he said was “one part of my past and my culture feels attacked and hurt, and the other part feels confused and angry.”
Wallace says he spoke to Larson on the phone and shared some of the same sentiments with a much larger audience on Twitter and Facebook.
“Let’s start with the word,” Wallace wrote of Larson’s verbiage. “It is NOT just a word. There is a ton of negative meaning behind this word. It doesn’t matter whether a person uses it in an offensive way or not. The word brings up many terrible memories to people and families and takes them back to a time that WE, as a community and a human race, have done our best to distance ourselves from.
“The sport has made combating this stereotype one of its top priorities. NASCAR has done what it can to move away from the labels of ‘racist, redneck sport.’ Diversity and inclusion are a priority main part of the sport in every team, every car, every crew member and employee. That said, it hurts to see the African American community immediately throw NASCAR under the bus with the “I’m not shocked it’s NASCAR. “.
“NASCAR has been and will be much better than how we have been portrayed over the past two weeks. As someone who arguably has the loudest voice on this topic in our sport, it’s hard for me to speak because I didn’t imagine us here.
“Can we all do a better job at inclusion? Absolutely. It’s a global issue, not just in our sport. As humans, we can always do better.”
Wallace said he has no anger toward Larson and believes in a second chance for his longtime competitor.
“What Larson said was false, whether privately or publicly,” Wallace continued. “There is no gray area. I saw the incident the night it happened and five minutes later Kyle texted me. He also called me the next morning Finally, I called him back with a FaceTime to speak “face to face” and we had a good conversation, his apologies were sincere. His emotions and his pride were broken.
“We discussed why he chose to use that language and I shared my thoughts. I told him that it was too easy for him to use that word and that he needed to do better and remove from his vocabulary. There is no room for that word in this world, I am not angry with him, and I believe that he, like most people, deserves a second chance and deserves a space. to improve.
“I wish him and his family nothing but the best. And I am more than willing to work with him to address diversity and inclusion in our sport.”
The countless NASCAR fans who tweeted about Wallace frequently criticized Larson’s suspension and firing, suggesting he would not have been held to the same standard. He disagreed with that assertion, citing NASCAR’s rulebook, which prohibits public statements or communications that “criticize, ridicule or otherwise disparage race, color, creed, national origin.” , gender, sexual orientation, martial status, religion, age or disability of another person. condition.”
“I AM A MEMBER OF NASCAR (and) a damn proud one too,” Wallace wrote. “I would and should be expected to be held to the same standards as everyone else in the sport.”
Finally, Wallace concluded by suggesting that everyone can learn something from the events of the past week.
“I think everyone can learn something from what’s happened over the last few weeks. I can’t wait to get back to the season and continue our momentum!”
Matt Weaver is a former dirt race driver turned motorsport journalist. He is usually found perched on a concrete wall at a local short track on Saturday evenings and at world-class media centers on Sunday afternoons. There’s no type of racing he hasn’t covered over the past decade. He drives a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado with over 400,000 miles; although he has carried it on racing trips across both coasts and two countries, it is not yet dead. He also has a cat, Gotenks, named after a Japanese cartoon character.
