Getting a little forced vacation.
NASCAR and Kaulig Racing have indefinitely suspended Daniel Dye, driver of the #10 truck in the Craftsman Truck Series, over comments made during a livestream that many online have criticized as homophobic.
Dye was opening trading cards during a livestream on shopping platform Whatnot when he began discussing a conversation he had with IndyCar driver David Malukas, who drives the #12 car for Team Penske.
While doing his effeminate impression of Malukas, he joked about his “David Malukas gay voice” while continuing to mock the open wheel driver:
NASCAR fans immediately began criticizing Dye and calling for the sport and his team to take action, and this afternoon both the sport and his team came down on the 22-year old driver.
According to the penalty report from NASCAR, Dye has been indefinitely suspended for a violation of NASCAR member conduct guidelines, which state that:
“NASCAR Members shall not make … a public statement 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.”
He will be required to undergo sensitivity training before being reinstated by NASCAR. But Kaulig Racing also announced that Dye had been indefinitely suspended:
“Kaulig Racing has indefinitely suspended driver Daniel Dye, effective immediately, after becoming aware today of comments he made on social media.”
I would assume that NASCAR and Kaulig will end up aligning their “indefinite” suspensions with each other, and that Dye will be reinstated once he completes the required sensitivity training.
In a statement after the suspension was announced, Dye apologized for his comments:
“I want to first apologize to David Malukas. I recently went on a live stream with some friends and made some careless comments. I chose my words poorly, and I understand why it upset people. I’m sorry to anyone who was offended. That’s not how I want to represent myself.
I have some close friends in the LGBTQ+ community who I would never want to feel less of themselves because of what I said, and that’s exactly why I should hold myself to a higher standard. In talking with them, I realize that a true friend would know better than to act the way I did and for that I need to be a better friend. What I said doesn’t reflect how I feel about them or anyone else.
I didn’t think enough before I spoke, and I in no way meant any harm. I know that intention does not erase impact and I need to do better.
I’m taking this seriously and working on being more aware and respectful moving forward. I’m sorry to everyone I let down. I am committed to learning from this and better understanding that the impact that my decisions can have on others. That includes educating myself, listening to those affected, and taking meaningful steps to ensure my actions reflect respect and inclusivity going forward.
I know I’ve got a platform and a responsibility, and I need to use it better.”
Obviously it’s not the first time a NASCAR driver has been penalized for something he said on a livestream: Back in 2020, when NASCAR was shut down due to the COVID pandemic, Kyle Larson was caught on an iRacing stream dropping a racial slur, and was ultimately dropped by his Chip Ganassi Racing team.
Obviously it didn’t really hurt his career much. The next season, Larson was hired by Hendrick Motorsports to drive the #5 car, and since then he’s gone on to win two Cup Series championships and 26 races with his new team.
Dye is only 22 years old, and in his first season with Kaulig Racing in the Truck Series after the team became the inaugural RAM truck team as the manufacturer returned to the sport this year. He’s currently sitting at 13th in points, but it appears that he’s going to miss at least this weekend’s upcoming Truck Series race at Darlington Raceway.
Last season he competed full-time in the Xfinity Series (now O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) for Kaulig, scoring a career-high finish of 7th at both Martinsville and Atlanta while finishing 20th in the final season points standings.
