In a virtual second, Kyle Larson’s NASCAR career crashed out when he uttered a two-syllable word he later admitted “should never, ever be said.”
From the second the n-word shockingly, cringingly left his lips late Sunday night and was broadcast over a Twitch live stream, to the resulting pileup of sponsors terminating their relationships with Larson on Monday, it was like watching a devastating NASCAR crash that wipes out the entire field and doesn’t leave a single participant unscathed. One after another, partners spun out until eventually Larson’s Chip Ganassi team exited the race, too.
And even though each action transpired digitally — from the initiating second during an iRacing event, followed by Larson’s necessary, but ultimately futile apology video on Twitter and then the various sanctioning statements shared on social media — this was not a virtual wreck. This was a real-life crash with real-life implications, repercussions and as Larson acknowledged, irreparable damage.
“I feel very sorry for my family, my friends, my partners, the NASCAR community, and especially the African-American community,” Larson said in his apology video.
As the wreckage began to cool Tuesday night (if it yet has), the NASCAR world was left wondering how it can recover from this. Where does the sport go from here, and has the unfiltered access to drivers that the iRacing platform allows become more trouble than it’s worth for NASCAR?
Last week, iRacing’s executive producer Steve Myers told the Observer that the Pro Invitational iRacing Series, the premiere virtual exhibition race that now occurs almost every Sunday, was intended to be a “fun” diversion from reality while sports remained postponed during the coronavirus pandemic. Decisions are minute-by-minute in an effort to get something, anything on-screen for fans. The result has been a clean broadcast with the two most recent races on FOX drawing more than 1 million viewers each.
“I think it’s irresponsible and probably unfair to try to shoehorn everyone’s problems into something iRacing has to solve,” Myers said last week. “That’s not why we’re doing this. We did this because we found an opportunity to be able to do something fun for the fans that allows them to take a break from the reality of what a pandemic is and how it’s impacting their lives.”
Myers’ comment was in the context of drivers frustrated with iRacing for excluding them from the premiere lineup, and followed an incident at virtual Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks ago in which driver Bubba Wallace quit mid-race after crashing out. Wallace lost a sponsor from the move, and before Sunday, was NASCAR’s most controversial iRacing figure.
“Y’all have a good one. That’s it. This is why I don’t take this (expletive) serious,” Wallace said on his Twitch live stream before the screen went dark. “Peace out!”
The incident with Wallace seems minuscule in the context of Larson, but it was an early indication that the initial goal of lighthearted “fun” would ultimately conflict with the unpredictability of a new, live platform for NASCAR and its drivers.
Although the rise of full-time NASCAR drivers competing in iRacing events might be new, as are many of the virtual series the platform has added (Larson was competing in a practice round for a “Monza Madness” exhibition race), the problem of toxic behavior in esports is not. Racist, sexist and homophobic comments have long plagued the gaming community with players removed from face-to-face confrontations and masked by their computer screens, usernames and headsets.
While that is an unfortunate reality, it also means there are models in place for NASCAR to look toward as it forges ahead with its iRacing partnership rather than shutting down drivers’ Twitch channels, live streams or virtual events. The popular global esports league Overwatch League, for example, launched a public “Player Discipline Tracker” during the 2020 season in which players are named with their infraction and the resulting action taken if they violate the league’s code of conduct in order to promote transparency and accountability among players. Twitch also updated its Community Guidelines in 2018 to include a “zero-tolerance” policy against hateful conduct and harassment.
Larson does not have a personal Twitch channel, so the decision from iRacing to suspend him indefinitely prevents him from using the live streaming service, and NASCAR, Chip Ganassi Racing and Larson’s sponsors have already reacted with a quick and heavy hand to the transgression.
“NASCAR has made diversity and inclusion a priority and will not tolerate the type of language used by Kyle Larson during Sunday’s iRacing event,” a statement from NASCAR said. “Our Member Conduct Guidelines are clear in this regard, and we will enforce these guidelines to maintain an inclusive environment for our entire industry and fan base.”
While Larson remains indefinitely suspended from NASCAR and is required to attend sensitivity training before he is reinstated, virtual races are set to continue each day this week, and hopefully long after that.
Perhaps now is the time for the NASCAR world to stop considering iRacing a second-hand escape, and instead seize the opportunity to propel itself into the future by engaging in the difficult racial discussions that have haunted its history. Now more than ever, transparency and access to drivers should be embraced. Sports have always conflated with social issues, and in that way, iRacing just became a little more real.
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