Confederate-Flag Ban Is Nascar's All-In Survival Bet
As the sport embraces Black Lives Matter and cracks down on racism, will enough Americans outside the South give racing a chance?
Nascar, long a symbol of Southern heritage, has become an unlikely battleground in the debate over whether the Confederate battle flag still has a place in America.
The decision earlier this month to ban the Confederate flag from racing venues was cheered by sponsors and jeered by vocal fans — many under the hashtag #DefundNascar, a slam at the Black Lives Matter call to #DefundThePolice. Fans waved the red-white-and-blue battle flag, seen by many as a celebration of slavery and white supremacy, outside the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama last weekend, and they’re expected to do the same this weekend at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania.