NASCAR Cup Series

Clements' remark was racial slur

Published Mar. 1, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

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Just what did NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Jeremy Clements say to draw an indefinite suspension from NASCAR?

The blogger to whom he was talking at the time has spoken out about the remark.

NASCAR suspended Clements on Wednesday for what senior vice president of racing operations Steve O'Donnell deemed an ''intolerable and insensitive remark.”

A day later, Clements told a reporter that the remark was racial in nature, but not in relation to anyone.

"When you say 'racial' remark, it wasn't used to describe anybody or anything," Clements told ESPN.com. “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."

On Friday, Marty Beckerman, an associate editor for MTV’s Guy Code blog, discussed the remark that was made to him. Beckerman said he was at Daytona International Speedway to work on the blog and told MTV News that the comment was made as he chatted with Clements while attempting to find Johanna Long for an interview.

Clements was helping Beckerman and a NASCAR publicist find Long’s trailer and the blogger was talking with the driver while he aided them.

"He walked us toward where she was, and on the way over, I explained to him that Guy Code is rules for guys, how you treat your friends, how you treat your ladies, things like that,” Beckerman said, according to MTV.com.

Beckerman said that when he asked what would be “Guy Code for race car drivers," Clements blurted out a phrase that included a racial slur.

He added that the driver did not use the slur in relation to a specific driver, but instead was showing that "if you drive roughly, you'll be treated roughly." The interview was not recorded, though Beckerman said he wrote the quote in his notes and then continued speaking with Clements. He later received a call from the driver in which Beckerman told MTV News that Clements let it be known that he regretted making the comment.

Beckerman went on to say that he did not publicly address the statement until “NASCAR made this a national story” because “we aren't investigative journalism. It didn't fit with our blog.”

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