Denny Hamlin has been forced to take sensitivity training by NASCAR following a tweet regarding Kyle Larson posted by the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on Monday.
Larson’s name was imposed over a female Asian driver in a joke from the TV show Family Guy, which Hamlin shared.
“I leave this here without comment,” Hamlin stated when he first posted the video. “Let me say this,” he said in a second tweet. I’m tweeting this because A it’s hilarious (expletive). “Because we’re pals,” says B.
Larson’s action during the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway was mocked in the video, which made fun of Asian drivers for not signalling and changing lanes.
Coming through the tri-oval in second place behind Erik Jones, Larson made an unexpected move to the right across multiple lanes in an attempt to make a winning move. However, he collided with Kurt Busch of 23XI Racing, who struck the wall and then returned to traffic to collect teammate Bubba Wallace. Hamlin is a co-owner of both vehicles.
Hamlin must begin the sensitivity training procedure before the end of the week, according to NASCAR. At Dover Motor Speedway on Saturday, the Cup Series teams will be back on the track.
Hamlin apologised after removing his meme tweet a few hours later.
“I took down a post I made earlier today after reading some of the comments,” Hamlin wrote.
“It was a poor choice of memes and I saw how it was offensive. It came across totally wrong. I apologize.”
