CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR driver Daniel Dye was suspended Tuesday — the second known major penalty of his racing career — for mocking IndyCar driver David Malukas during a recent livestream.
In the video, which circulated Tuesday on social media, Dye used voices, including mimicking Malukas’ voice, that made implications about Malukas’ sexuality.
Dye is a Truck Series driver for Kaulig Racing, which also suspended him. NASCAR ordered Dye to undergo sensitivity training.
He apologized to Malukas in a social media post, calling his comments “careless.”
“I chose my words poorly, and I understand why it upset people,” he wrote. “I’m sorry to anyone who was offended. That’s not how I want to represent myself.
“I have some close friends in the LBGTQ+ 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.”
He said conversations with those friends made him recognize that “a true friend would know better than to act the way I did.”
Malukas, a 24-year-old driver for Team Penske, often posts pictures on social media with a girlfriend.
This is the second time Dye has been suspended.
He was 18 and racing in the ARCA series when he was arrested at a Daytona Beach, Florida, high school and charged with felony battery for approaching a classmate and punching the student in the groin area. The victim was treated at a hospital for a potential ruptured testicle.
Dye said it was a game and that he would be exonerated. He was instead indefinitely suspended by ARCA, which is owned by NASCAR. Dye was reinstated when the charge was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
In his third full season in the Truck Series, Dye moved to Kaulig Racing this year to drive for Ram in the automaker’s return to NASCAR. Through three races, his best finish was 13th at Atlanta.
Dye raced in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Truck Series when NASCAR partnered its third-tier series with IndyCar’s season opener. Malukas made his Team Penske debut that weekend.
