Credit Dale Earnhardt Jr. for taking a stand, rather than beating around the bush as some of his fellow NASCAR drivers have done on the subject of the Confederate flag.
Fox Sports reported that three days after NASCAR's governing body pledged its support for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's call for the removal of the Confederate flag that hangs outside the state capitol - but stopped short of outlawing the flag at its races - Earnhardt expressed a more definitive statement about the flag.
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"I've made my comments about the Confederate flag several times, and I stand behind NASCAR's stance to remove it,'' Earnhardt said Friday at Sonoma Raceway, nascartalk.nbcsports.com reported. "I think if it's offensive to an entire race, it really does nothing for anybody to be there flying. It belongs in the history books; that's about it.''
Earnhardt, who Fox Sports called the sport's most popular driver, is a Kannapolis, N.C. native.
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Other drivers took the more politically correct approach in supporting NASCAR.
Joey Logano came across with, perhaps, the next strongest statement about the flag, Fox Sports reported.
"Everyone has their own beliefs, I guess, and how they feel," he said. "To me I feel like that's way too old-school and we've moved on way past that flag. I believe we should be flying the American flag, not that one.
" ... We're the United States. That's what we are, and we should be proud of that."
"I know how we approach it at Hendrick Motorsports, everything that we can control we've eliminated the ability to use it in any way and show up in any of the things we're involved with," Jeff Gordon said, according to nascartalk.nbcsports.com. "That's the stance I see that NASCAR has taken and has had for several years. I'm in support of what they're doing. It's a delicate balance. We race all over but the South is an area where we have a lot of fans and everyone has a different opinions and expression of that. I support NASCAR and the stance they've taken.''
Another driver, Cole Whitt, refused to take a stand.
"That's part of being in a free country," Whitt said, according to Fox Sports. "If they feel like they want to fly it because they like the Confederate flag, then I guess they fly it. That's totally up to everyone's own personality, but I'm OK either way. There's no reason to (be for) or against it, for me."
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