NASCAR's weekend at Talladega could be one of the most important of the season for the series GETTY IMAGES
The way ahead "looks like miles of hard road" as NASCAR "deals with the aftermath of Talladega, a jumbled schedule colored by the coronavirus and grandstands still largely empty because of attendance prohibitions," according to Mike Hembree of USA TODAY. The Talladega Superspeedway weekend "made clear the tough time NASCAR will have trying to unravel the strong ties it has had to the Confederate flag." The move away from the flag "has been celebrated in most corners, but, for some, 'old times there are not forgotten.'" A troubling leftover from the noose incident in driver Bubba Wallace's garage stall is that it was "not reported during October's NASCAR stop at the track, nor did it create any notice until NASCAR was informed of its presence by a crewman [last] Sunday." NASCAR President Steve Phelps said that "additional cameras will be placed in garage areas in an effort to spot problems earlier." In response to the notion that the noose should have elicited complaints sooner, Phelps said there will be "complete sensitivity and unconscious bias training" for "all members of our industry" (USA TODAY, 6/26).
LESSONS LEARNED: Though Phelps previously said that he would not change anything about how NASCAR handled the noose investigation, on Thursday he said, "In hindsight, we should have -- I should have -- used the word 'alleged' in our statement." NASCAR said that it had officials "sweep all of its garages across the country as part of the investigation, and found that only 11 of 1,684 stalls had pull-down ropes tied in a knot, and only one stall -- Wallace's -- had the rope fashioned like a noose." Phelps said that moving forward, NASCAR "will start conducting sweeps of all garages 'to ensure nothing like this happens again'" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/26).
IMPROVING VIGILANCE: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Beaton & Radnofsky write the conclusion that the rope was a "noose -- and unlike anything else at all of NASCAR's tracks -- dispels the notion asserted by some that it was a simple garage pull that was somehow misunderstood" by a NASCAR crew member, crew chief security team and president. The news that it is a noose "also means that countless crew members and others who passed it by didn't take action last year when they encountered it." Phelps said that he "wasn't sure why it had gone unreported for so long, but 'odds are someone saw it' and that NASCAR employees would have to go through sensitivity training" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/26).
NOT BACKING DOWN: In DC, Liz Clarke writes NASCAR's closure of the incident "probably won't quell the racial tensions that have ratcheted up daily since Phelps announced June 10 that the sport was banning displays of the Confederate flag at its racetracks to send a message that all fans are welcome at its events." Phelps on Thursday "made clear that NASCAR would not retreat from that policy despite virulent pushback from a segment of its fan base that views the flag as the symbol of a fierce, proud heritage" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/26).
