Former NASCAR CEO Brian France said the sanctioning body “did a really good job of trying to meet this moment” with its stand for racial equality this week, including the move to ban the Confederate flag on Wednesday, and he believes it is about to mark a new era for the sport. France helped start NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program and began the process of distancing the sport from the Confederate flag during his tenure as Chair & CEO from ’03-18. Speaking to THE DAILY Wednesday morning before the flag announcement was made, France said that he has been in touch with NASCAR President Steve Phelps and believes that the sport is about to create or deepen its involvement with several programs on the equality front. France: “This is a new moment, a big new moment for the country, and with the resources and platforms that NASCAR has, they will be looking for, ‘We can do a little or a lot, but what’s going to actually make some difference?’” … They can do all kinds of things and write press releases, but when they get behind something, the first step is to say, ‘Hey, we’re in, we get it,’ and that’s what they did on Sunday, and, ‘We’re not casually in -- we’re all in.’” Phelps prior to Sunday's Cup series race gave a speech on national TV on making NASCAR more inclusive.
ISSUES STILL TO BE DEALT WITH: France also addressed the Confederate flag topic, noting one of the issues that he dealt with -- and that the sport may continue to deal with -- is that there is some adjacent property outside of tracks that is used for camping but that NASCAR or Speedway Motorsports do not own. That means there could be situations where some fans continue to fly the flag outside of NASCAR's jurisdiction. France said, “That remains a challenge because our facilities are so expansive and the property (outside the tracks) is not always in our control. (Banning the flag) is one important thing -- but there are many other (steps that NASCAR is working on) -- it’s all about inclusion.” France added: “In talking to Steve Phelps and others, they very much want to do things that have high impact.”
