Jeremy Clements has been suspended indefinitely from the Nationwide Series after an investigation on an unspecified racial slur uttered during an interview at Daytona last Saturday.
The racial slur was a violation of Nascar code of conduct, which prohibits drivers from making a public statement that criticizes, disparages or ridicules individual(s) for color, creed, race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, handicapped condition or marital status.
According to Nascar senior vice president of racing operations Steve O'Donnell in a statement released on Wednesday, Clements, 28, uttered an "intolerable and insensitive remark."
In response to Nascar's decision to suspend Clements, the Nationwide Series driver delivered a statement on his Facebook fanpage:
I apologize and regret what I said to the NASCAR writer and to NASCAR, my sponsors, my fans, and my team. NASCAR has a Code of Conduct that everyone must follow and I unintentionally violated that code. I will not get into specifics of what I said but my comment to the writer was in no way meant to be disrespectful or insensitive to anyone or to be detrimental to NASCAR or the NASCAR Nationwide Series. I will do what I need to do in order to atone for my error in judgment.
While the racial remark was never videotaped or recorded, reports from USA Today say that Clements blurted out the "intolerable" n-word slur while he spoke with a reporter during the Nationwide Series race at Daytona.
Speaking with ESPN's Marty Smith on Thursday, Jeremy Clements took the opportunity to explain himself.
"When you say 'racial' remark, it wasn't used to describe anybody or anything," Clements said. "So that's all I'm going to say to that. And it really wasn't."
"I was describing racing, and the word I used was incorrect and I shouldn't have said it. It shouldn't be used at all."
Clements was walking with a female Nascar employee and a reporter from MTV when the controversial exchange occurred. The Nascar employee asked Clements if he knew where driver Johanna Long's transporter. He invited the employee to walk with him to get to her destination. The reporter followed closely and started to ask some questions, at which point Clements let the word slip.
While it appears that Clements' "insensitive remark" was never intended to offend anyone, Nascar decided to have Jeremy Clements suspended and scheduled for sensitivity training
"But I'm going to do what they want me to do so I can get back in the car as soon as possible," said Clements. "I think it's a little harsh, but it's their rules. It's their game."
Despite the controversy, ESPN reporter Marty Smith was quick to show his support of Clements:
Jeremy Clements is a good kid. He made a bad mistake. He owned that bad mistake when a lie would've buried that bad mistake. Think about it.
— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) February 28, 2013
