NASCAR and Kaulig Racing suspend Daniel Dye indefinitely for homophobic internet performance

NASCAR Truck Series driver Daniel Dye just did something so dumb that it’s actually frustrating, because motorsport is such a high-level, professional, competitive industry these days that I want to believe it doesn’t employ anyone dumb enough to hire someone this dumb. Apparently, that is not the case.

Dye was on some bootleg streaming app for people who like to open packs of baseball cards or something, and he started bragging about having no idea who David Malukas — driver of the Team Penske #12 Verizon Chevrolet in the IndyCar Series — was when they met at the St. Petersburg race weekend IndyCar and the Truck Series shared. Dye then went on to perform a homophobic caricature — apparently intended to be of Malukas — for an excruciatingly long time.

Dye has been suspended by NASCAR and his team and will be required to complete sensitivity training in order to return to racing. He posted an extremely bad Instagram apology. He will be replaced in this weekend’s Truck Series race at Darlington by A.J. Allmendinger.