All There Is to Know About Denny Hamlin’s Controversial Tweet That Landed Him in Deep Trouble With NASCAR

It is no secret how Denny Hamlin is an avid and active user on social media. It is also well-known that he enjoys banter on and off the tracks. However, last year, one of his banter attempts went horribly wrong. It was after the race at the Talladega Superspeedway in April that Hamlin found himself in a spot for a tweet he posted.

What did Denny Hamlin tweet that was offensive?

In the final seconds of the race at Talladega, Kyle Larson went for the lead. In the process, he accidentally hit Kurt Busch, who then hit the wall. In addition, Busch’s crash took his 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace too. Since the 23XI Racing team is co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, this act by Larson didn’t go down well with Hamlin.

In his attempt to banter, the 42-year-old posted a tweet following the race. It involved a clip from the show Family Guy where a female Asian driver is shown cutting across multiple lanes of traffic, causing different accidents. The words ‘Kyle Larson’ were superimposed on the female driver.

Wonder why it was offensive? Larson’s maternal family is of Japanese origin. In fact, the Hendrick Motorsports star is the first person from NASCAR’s Driver for Diversity program to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship. Obviously, given Larson’s origins, the tweet was going to look offensive even if it wasn’t intended to be.

How did Kyle Larson respond to the “tweet”?

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Given Hamlin’s tweet, chances were high that Larson would feel a dig taken at his ethnicity. Luckily, that wasn’t the case. He and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver have been good friends. In fact, a week after the incident, the 30-year-old spoke on the matter.

As reported by CBS Sports, Larson said, “Obviously it was just poor judgment on his part. And I think being in the position that we’re in, you have to be very careful with what you put out in the public. I know he’ll learn a lot here these next couple weeks. I think we’re all just ready to move past it and get back to focused on racing.”

Additionally, he clarified that he wasn’t offended by the tweet but understood why others could be. Larson said, “No hard feelings from me. But I think after you put something out there, you realize how offensive it can be.” Certainly, that was big of the California-born driver to let it go. However, that didn’t save Hamlin from what was coming.

Denny Hamlin apologizes for the tweet

Despite Larson not making much out of Hamlin’s tweet, there were going to be consequences. So, the 3x Daytona 500 winner was quick to understand the scenario and proactively removed it. Not just that, but he also issued an apology promptly.

READ MORE – “You Really Have to Be Careful”- Bubba Wallace Showed No Mercy to Denny Hamlin After His Insensitive Tweet Against Kyle Larson in 2022

Interestingly, his banter tweet was posted at 4:44 pm ET Monday. Just seven hours later, Hamlin posted his apology at around 11:49 pm ET Monday on April 26, 2022. The apology read, “I took down a post I made earlier today after reading some of the comments. It was a poor choice of memes and I saw how it was offensive. It came across totally wrong. I apologize.”

Hamlin was sent to sensitivity training after the “Family Guy” tweet

Over the years, NASCAR has shown how they have a zero threshold for such acts. Hamlin’s former teammate Kyle Busch was asked to undergo sensitivity training after he used the R-word to describe Brad Keselowski’s actions at Martinsville in November 2021. Even NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Hailie Deegan was asked to do the same after she used the same word during a Twitch stream in January 2021.

In fact, Kyle Larson himself was suspended for the majority of the 2020 season and undergo sensitivity training when he used the N-word during a virtual race. Naturally, Hamlin was to face a similar fate. For his “Family Guy” tweet, NASCAR ordered the veteran driver to begin sensitivity training before the start of the Cup Series race at Dover.

In NASCAR’s eyes, it was a violation of the rule. As per their rulebook, it 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.”

Even Hamlin’s car manufacturer, Toyota, agreed with the governing body when it came to sensitivity training. As quoted by ESPN, Toyota said in a statement, “We have spoken with Denny Hamlin regarding his tweet from yesterday. Toyota supports NASCAR’s decision to mandate sensitivity training for Denny and we will all move forward together.”

WATCH THIS STORY: Denny Hamlin Exposes Malicious Kyle Larson Incident After His NASCAR Driver Bubba Wallace Had Run Through Larson Earlier in the Day

It was an incident to forget and a lesson to learn for Hamlin and other drivers. NASCAR may have been inconsistent with a lot of things, but they seem to do well in this regard.