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SONOMA, California - Nascar chairman Brian France said the series the Confederate flag is an "insensitive symbol" and that the series will be aggressive in disassociating the symbol from its events.
France said told The Associated Press on Saturday (June 27 2015): "We want to go as far as we can to eliminate the presence of that flag.
"I personally find it an offensive symbol, so there is no daylight how we feel about it, and our sensitivity to others who feel the same way.
NOT PART OF 'NASCAR'S FUTURE'
"Obviously, we have our roots in the South, there are events in the South, it's part of our history like it is for the country. But it needs to be just that, part of our history. It isn't part of our future.
"We want everybody in this country to be a Nascar fan, and you can't do that by being insensitive in any one area."
The flag issue was heightened after nine black churchgoers were slain in Charleston, South Carolina earlier in June 2015. The suspect in the case, Dylann Roof, embraced Confederate symbols before the attack, posing with the rebel battle flag. That revelation prompted a reappraisal of the role such symbols play in the South.
France admitted the Charleston church shooting has pushed the series to find a way to take a tougher stance. Dale Earnhardt Jnr and Jeff Gordon, two of Nascar's biggest stars, on Friday (June 26) supported Nascar's efforts.
Jeff Gordon on Confederate flag: "At HMS, we've eliminated the ability to use it in any way, or show up in any things we're involved with"
— Jeff Gordon Online (@JGinfo) June 26, 2015This week, Nascar said it backed South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's call to remove the Confederate flag from state capitol grounds, and noted it bars the flag symbol in any official Nascar capacity.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
But banning it on race track property is a much larger task for Nascar, which began as a Southern sport, and many of its fans still embrace the flag. It flies atop campers and at camp sites at many races, as fans spend entire weekends in either the infield or surrounding areas of track property.
The size of the crowd, and Nascar's own acknowledgment that fans have a right to freedom of expression, would make it difficult to police the presence of the flag.
France insisted Nascar is exploring its options: "That's what we're working on — working on how far can we go. If there's more we can do to disassociate ourselves with that flag at our events than we've already done, then we want to do it. We are going to be as aggressive as we can to disassociate ourselves with that flag."
Brad Daugherty, the lone black team owner in Nascar, told SiruisXM Nascar Radio this week that seeing the Confederate flag at races "does make my skin crawl."
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