That started a sponsorship search at JGR that will be key in retaining Busch. And you can tell the story as you want with less words.”īusch has been sponsored by M&M’s since he joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008, but the company informed the team ahead of the season that it was leaving NASCAR at the end of this year. It takes elaboration to kind of tell the story. “I answered the question, you know - questions. “It frustrates me that short comments are sometimes taken out of context,” he said before Saturday’s practice. "Certainly, I understand their decision.”īusch grew visibly frustrated last week at Talladega when pressed on a possible retirement. I didn’t think this fell into that category,” Hamlin said. NASCAR’s rulebook has a section that says its members “shall not make or cause to be made a public statement and/or communication that criticizes, ridicules, or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, or handicapping condition.” Larson said Hamlin has learned that “there’s millions of other people, that a tweet like that could offend.” I think we’re all ready to move past it and get back focused on racing.”
I know he’ll learn a lot from it here the next couple of weeks. I think being in the position that we’re in, you have to be very careful with what you put out into the public. “Obviously, it was just poor judgment on his part. “I think NASCAR did what they had to do and I appreciate Denny going through the steps to learn from that,” he said. Larson is friends with Hamlin and said of the meme, “I personally wasn’t offended by it.”
Larson’s name was superimposed over the female driver in the meme. It has long been removed on all streaming platforms but the clip can still be found on YouTube. In the meme, an Asian woman speaks in choppy English before moving across six lanes of traffic with no warning, reflecting a racist stereotype about Asian drivers.
He also owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan and fields two cars supported by the Japanese automaker - one driven by Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver at NASCAR’s top level. Hamlin is a three-time Daytona 500 winner who drives a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. That’s the insensitive part, right? Whoever created it, I guess, put his name in front of a woman who’s speaking Asian. “I didn’t even think twice about the other (part). Larson moved up the track multiple lanes in an aggressive move that caused a wreck at Talladega. Hamlin deleted the tweet Monday night and apologized.