“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.
