NASCAR made historic strides by running a 'Black Lives Matter' car and banning the Confederate flag — but where it goes from here is the true test

• NASCAR has made multiple changes in the wake of the nationwide protests of the killing of George Floyd, including banning the Confederate flag from races and removing a rule that required team members to stand during the national anthem.
• The changes follow a statement by the sanctioning body, which said, in part: "We must do better, and our commitment to promoting equality and inclusion continues and will never waver."
• The ban of the flag occurred on Wednesday, after the only Black full-time driver in the top-level NASCAR Cup Series, Darrell Wallace Jr., called for it to happen on Monday.
• After the Charleston massacre in 2015, NASCAR asked fans not to bring the flag to the track but did not ban it.
• But even with its steps over the past week, NASCAR has a lot to do — and whether it sticks to its pledge over the long run will be the true test.

Before the NASCAR Cup Series' Folds of Honor 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, all 40 cars came to a stop on the track's front stretch for a moment of silence after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after Minneapolis police officers kneeled on his neck and back despite him saying he couldn't breathe.

Pit-crew members stood with their hands behind their backs or clasped in front of their waists. One from the No. 43 team held a shirt that read "I can't breathe" and "Black Lives Matter" — the shirt that Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the No. 43 and the first Black driver to race full time in the top-level Cup Series since 1971, had worn before getting in the car.

"Our country is in pain, and people are justifiably angry, demanding to be heard," NASCAR President Steve Phelps said. "The Black community and all people of color have suffered in our country, and it has taken far too long for us to hear their demands for change.

"Our sport must do better. Our country must do better. The time is now to listen, to understand, and to stand against racism and racial injustice. We ask our drivers, our competitors, and all our fans to join us in this mission — to take a moment of reflection to acknowledge that we must do better as a sport."

One crew member was seen wiping their eyes during the message on the Fox broadcast, while Black NASCAR official Kirk Price kneeled during the anthem as Colin Kaepernick had in the NFL.

"I fully respect the flag, I fully do," Price, who served in the US Army, told The Charlotte Observer. "That's not what the issue is here. The issue is African Americans being oppressed for so long under the flag.

"I respect everyone's opinion. But to be honest with you, I know what the flag stands for, and I know about Black people being oppressed because I am one."

Nearly a week before that race, NASCAR, like many brands, put out a statement about the killing of Floyd.

"The NASCAR family, like so many others, is hurt and angered by the immensely troubling events that have taken place across our country in recent weeks," the statement read. "For us to heal and move forward as a nation, we all need to listen more and be united in the stand against racism, hatred, senseless violence, and loss of life. And we must all hold ourselves accountable to driving change.

"While our sport has made progress over the years, there remains much work to be done and we fully embrace our responsibility to help bridge the racial divide that continues to exist in our country. We must do better and our commitment to promoting equality and inclusion continues and will never waver."

NASCAR drivers also participated in a video along those lines, captioned "I will listen and learn," and the sanctioning body shared a Pride Month initiative on June 9.

—Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) June 7, 2020

For those familiar with NASCAR, and even those who aren't, the entire moment before the Atlanta race was not only somber in the wake of the deaths of Floyd and countless other Black people at the hands of police officers, but it also felt like a potential turning point for NASCAR, a sport long defined by its conservative white roots and racism that just can't help but boil over.

This is, after all, a sport that held a de-facto President Donald Trump rally at its biggest race of the year in February, and has approved multiple Trump-supporting paint schemes on race cars. Its conservatism, as a whole, has never been in question. Even one of NASCAR's most historic races, the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, was long an ode to the Confederacy.

When NASCAR moved to eradicate Confederate imagery from its races entirely after the 2015 Charleston massacre — where a white supremacist shot and killed nine people at a historically Black church — by approaching the fans still bringing the flag to the track, the sanctioning body took steps to discourage them from flying it. It didn't, however, ban the flag outright.

Even after NASCAR's moment of silence and vow to do better, Wallace, who drove a Black Lives Matter race car during Wednesday night's Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, was still having to call for full removal of the Confederate flag from tracks during a Monday CNN interview. Not all drivers had quite as strong of a take, with USA Today quoting 2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski as saying he doesn't salute or respect the flag, but he's "not gonna tell people they need to get rid of it."

On Wednesday, two days after Wallace's interview, NASCAR announced that the flag would be prohibited at races — decades after it should have been.

When that happened, one lower-level NASCAR driver said he was quitting and selling all of his equipment because of the ban and "political BS" in the sporting league. Many fans were equally as angry, and several replies to NASCAR's announcement were hidden by the tweet author, NASCAR itself.

But that kind of reluctance to commit, both in word and in action, is one that plagues NASCAR even when it does seem to be attempting social progress and inclusion — which, all too often, it isn't. It took NASCAR five years after Charleston to ban the flag outright, despite its racist roots.

The result of that reluctance can not only be seen in public behavior by some competitors and businesspeople, seemingly without fear of retribution, but also in the swift sidestep that those involved are willing to take when held accountable for their actions.

Prominent NASCAR team owners Richard Petty and Richard Childress, for example, made headlines in 2017 when they entered themselves into the conversation about kneeling during the national anthem in peaceful protest of racial injustice and police brutality. Kneeling hadn't reached NASCAR like it had other sports, yet both Petty, a seven-time Cup Series champion whose team fields Wallace's car, and Childress, whose two grandsons now race in the Cup Series, both said they'd fire anyone who took a knee.

"Anybody that don't stand up for that ought to be out of the country, period," Petty said that year, as quoted by USA Today. "If they don't appreciate where they're at … what got them where they're at? The United States."

Richard Petty Motorsports co-owner Andrew Murstein agreed with Petty in sentiment at the time but said he wouldn't fire anyone.

"I would sit down with them and say it's the wrong thing to [take a knee], and many people, including myself, view it as an affront to our great country," Murstein wrote in a text message, as quoted by ESPN. "If there is disenchantment towards the president or a few bad law enforcement officers, don't have it cross over to all that is still good and right about our country."

Childress, when asked how he would respond to kneeling by any of his employees, said in that same 2017 story: "Get you a ride on a Greyhound bus when the national anthem is over."

"I told them anyone who works for me should respect the country we live in," Childress said. "So many people have gave their lives for it. This is America."

This is America, where, according to incident data cited by CNN, US police are far more likely to use force against Black people than white people.

NASCAR released a statement the day after the 2017 USA Today story, saying: "Thanks to the sacrifices of many, we live in a country of unparalleled freedoms and countless liberties, including the right to peacefully express one's opinion."

But NASCAR had guidelines in place requiring team members to stand during the anthem, which NBC Sports reports were removed before the Atlanta race over the weekend, where Price kneeled.

Alongside NASCAR, Richard Petty Motorsports put out a statement this month after Floyd's death that said the team stood with its driver, Wallace, team members, competitors, and people of color.

"It is far past time for equality in our country and it is up to our society and our institutions to make change happen," part of the statement read. "Richard Petty Motorsports is committed to using our voice, and our platform to continue to champion our commitment to diversity and inclusion everywhere."

But when reached by Insider to ask about Petty's 2017 comments in light of the team's pledge to use its platform for diversity and inclusion, a spokesperson for Richard Petty Motorsports said the team's statement "does not have any correlation with the national anthem and protests and that sort."

"Our statement provided was from the organization, and not any particular individual at Richard Petty Motorsports," the spokesperson said. "As a team, we continue to stand by, and uphold our statement released on June 4.

"We believe your request to be a genuine [sic]. Although, we do not believe a quote from three years ago is in direct correlation to our statement."

The spokesperson said that NASCAR "knows it must do better, from leadership to athletes to garage to front-office employees," but that "usage of three-year-old quotes are not good for anyone."

When asked whether Petty would like to talk about where he stands on those views in light of recent events, the team declined, saying Petty does not have a comment but "supports the Richard Petty Motorsports statement."

Richard Childress Racing also sent a statement in place of an interview, saying via email: "RCR fully supports a more equal and inclusive America and stands with peaceful changemakers. We stand with our drivers, partners, fans, and NASCAR in condemning racism and hatred, and advocating for the change that must come."

NASCAR has been quick to condemn certain blatant, big-headlines racism in its ranks, such as when Cup Series driver Kyle Larson was suspended from racing and fired from his team after saying the N-word a few months ago. But when asked, on two different occasions, for details about how quickly Larson may be cleared to return under NASCAR's ruling that required him first to take sensitivity training, NASCAR never responded.

Larson finished training and was able to return to racing in a lower division in less than a month, making the question particularly important — but not significant enough to warrant a response.

Thus, it's hard to tell just how much of a lasting change NASCAR will make after taking a long look at itself. Surface-level stuff is the easy part because anyone can say they want to be better. But finding the motivation to go deeper than banning a flag that's been racist for more than a century or putting out a heartfelt statement that angers many in your core fanbase — that's the hard part.

Brands often speak when it's convenient, as it has been for many brands lately, while ignoring their many past, current, and future transgressions. Holding them accountable for those words is the only way to ensure true change, or realize that it won't happen.

NASCAR has spoken. Whether it continues to follow through will be the real test.