"Hope NBC keeps him"; "RIP" - NASCAR fans debate Steve Letarte's comment during Cup Series practice at Indianapolis

Besides his reputation as a former crew chief for 4-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon and Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., Steve Letarte is known by NASCAR fans for his fluent commentary on NBC Sports telecasts. However, even the experienced Letarte fumbles during broadcasts sometimes. During Friday's practice for the 2024 Brickyard 400, Letarte said the 'N' word by mistake, and fans online have picked up on it.

The iconic 400-miler that dates back to 1994 ran on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the last time in 2020, the same year COVID-19 hit the world. Although NASCAR returned to Indianapolis after that, it was only on its road course. Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell is the defending winner at the Indy road course.

The Brickyard 400 is set to return to the 2.5-mile racetrack after 3 years. More importantly, it is also going to be the official debut of the NextGen car at IMS. What Letarte had intended to say was:

"3rd year since the inaugural Brickyard but a very different feel and look."

What he unfortunately came out with instead was:

"3rd year since the ni**a..."

Letarte corrected himself immediately and completed the rest of the sentence, as can be heard in this clip shared on X(formerly twitter):

Several fans reacted to Letarte's slip of tongue, with one fan saying that they hoped NBC would not fire him for the unintentional slur.

"Danmit i hope nbc keeps him," the fan said.

"RIP", another fan said.

Here are some other reactions to Letarte's accidental use of the slur:

"Did Letarte say Nuggets on TV? Again. How many times did I tel him that in DM?" a fan said.

"obviously a racist" another fan wrote, adding smileys to indicate the comment was in jest.

"How do you mess up that badly 😭😭" a fan said,

"I mean atleast it was clearly accidental," another fan added.

Tyler Reddick's No. 45 car was the fastest in practice and recorded a lap time of 49.293 seconds. Ryan Blaney, who had the second-fastest car, finished 0.177 seconds behind Reddick's mark. Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Alex Bowman wound up the top 5. The main event is scheduled to start at 2:30 PM (ET) on Sunday, July 21.

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"Cup racing is like getting thrown in the ocean"- Steve Letarte reflects on Cole Custer's NASCAR evaluation

In an old Dirty Mo Media podcast episode, Steve Letarte shared how difficult racing in the Cup Series is. Letarte had opined that the difficulty of driving in a Cup Series race is on another level, based on a conversation that he had had.

Letarte revealed that he once had a conversation with the reigning Xfinity Series champion, Cole Custer, about the same. Custer, who currently drives the #00 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, debuted in the Cup Series with Rick Ware Racing back in March 2008 at the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Recalling Custer's debut year, Letarte said:

"I was like, 'Hey man, how's Cup?' 'Man, it's tough,' (Custer replied). I said, 'Yeah, you're at the deep end of the pool.' Custer said, 'No, no, no. If it's the deep end of the pool, I know which way to swim.'"

"He said, 'Cup racing is like getting thrown in the ocean. I don't even know which way the shore is. It is so hard, you can't get your mind around how good they all are, front to back.'"

NASCAR is just a few hours from running the 20th NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season, the Pennzoil 250. Once that race is over, the countdown for this year's Brickyard 400 will begin.