NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France yesterday sent a memo to employees of the sanctioning body explaining his decision to endorse Donald Trump for president. The memo, which was obtained by THE DAILY, states, “I often have been involved in supporting political candidates running for public office. … I have known Donald and his family for many years, and it is through this connection that I offered my support.” He added, “Let me make something perfectly clear: NASCAR will continue to operate our business unchanged. This includes our deep, long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion. It’s a commitment that I made to this organization more than a decade ago. We will not waiver from our goal to make our sport more open and friendly to everyone.” A request to NASCAR for comment was not returned by presstime.
NASCAR kicks off its three-week West Coast swing this weekend, and the endorsement of Trump is being seen by many throughout the industry as coming at an inopportune time. That is because the West Coast swing includes stops at markets with heavy Latino populations – Las Vegas, Phoenix and Southern California – and many teams had planned Hispanic marketing campaigns for the trip as a result. Whether some or any of those programs had been put on hold following the endorsement was unclear as of presstime.
