Confederate Flag Again Flown Over NASCAR Race

For the second time since NASCAR banned displays of the Confederate battle flag last month, one was flown over the site of a Cup Series race.

On Wednesday, the flag was towed by an airplane over NASCAR’s All-Star race in Bristol, Tenn., after previously being spotted above a race in June at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway. Whereas the banner to which the flag was affixed last month also bore the message “Defund NASCAR,” this time it included a website URL related to a group called Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

The commander in chief of the Tennessee-based group, Paul C. Gramling Jr., did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. In remarks last month to the Columbia Daily Herald, Gramling said, “It is the hope of the Sons of Confederate Veterans that NASCAR fans will be allowed the fundamental American right of displaying pride in their family and heritage. … We believe NASCAR’s slandering of our Southern heritage only further divides our nation."

NASCAR did not provide official comment on the SCV’s action in June, but Steve O’Donnell, the stock-car racing organization’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, called the perpetrator of the stunt “a jackass” at the time in a tweet.