{"id":573389,"date":"2026-03-31T18:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/573389\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T18:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:06:08","slug":"nascar-reinstates-daniel-dye-after-suspension-wont-return-to-kaulig-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/573389\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR reinstates Daniel Dye after suspension, won\u2019t return to Kaulig Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR reinstated suspended driver Daniel Dye and granted him immediate eligibility to compete in NASCAR-sanctioned races on Tuesday; Dye confirmed, however, that his return won\u2019t be with Kaulig Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly thankful for my time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and for the chance to compete with Kaulig Racing alongside some of the most passionate fans in motorsports. At this time, I am stepping away from that role,\u201d Dye wrote in a statement posted to X on Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a lot of honest self-reflection and guidance from mentors I trust, I\u2019ve decided the smartest move for my career is to realign my focus on my long-term objective of becoming a successful driver at the highest level of stock car racing. Now that I\u2019m reinstated, I\u2019m optimistic about what the future holds and look forward to working hard at my next opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old Dye had been a full-time driver for Kaulig in NASCAR\u2019s third-tier Truck Series before he was suspended on March 17<\/a> by both NASCAR and Kaulig after making a homophobic comment about IndyCar driver David Malukas, whose voice Dye mocked as \u201cgay\u201d and did an impersonation of it on a livestream.<\/p>\n

As part of the conditions of Dye\u2019s suspension, NASCAR mandated that Dye undergo sensitivity training. That requirement has since been met, but while Dye is cleared to race again, both Kaulig and RAM \u2014 Kaulig\u2019s main backer, as it is the manufacturer\u2019s flagship team \u2014 elected not to put him back in one of its trucks. Dye had made three starts for the team this season with a best finish of 13th.<\/p>\n

Kaulig announced that Corey Lajoie will be the driver behind the wheel of its No. 10 Ram entry at Rockingham.<\/p>\n

Dye\u2019s mocking of Malukas was captured on a livestream on the Whatnot platform. The two drivers had met earlier in the year at an event in St. Petersburg, Fla., promoting the combined race weekend featuring races for the IndyCar and Truck Series, a meeting Dye recollected on the livestream as he made his disparaging remark.<\/p>\n

After the news of his suspension became public, Dye posted a statement on X apologizing to Malukas and described his comments as \u201ccareless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to first apologize to David Malukas,\u201d Dye wrote. \u201cI 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\u2019m sorry to anyone who was offended. That\u2019s not how I want to represent myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019s 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\u2019t reflect how I feel about them or anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dye added that he was taking the situation seriously, \u201cand working on being more aware and respectful moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019ve got a platform and a responsibility, and I need to use it better,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Dye had previously been suspended by NASCAR in April 2022 after he was arrested and charged with battery on a high-school classmate. The charge was later dismissed upon Dye completing a deferred prosecution agreement that included an anger management course and community service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR reinstated suspended driver Daniel Dye and granted him immediate eligibility to compete in NASCAR-sanctioned races on Tuesday;…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-573389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}