NASCAR now allowing drivers to kneel and peacefully protest during national anthem

The eliminated policy stated: “DRIVERS AND CREW CHIEFS, please advise all your Team members: Conduct during the playing of the National Anthem, taken from the US Flag Code. When the flag is displayed – all persons should face and stand at attention with their right hand over their heart – persons should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart – when the flag is not displayed – all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed.”

Before the race in Atlanta, NASCAR official Kirk Price, a black military veteran, saluted the flag while kneeling during the national anthem.

NASCAR also announced this week that it will ban displays of the Confederate flag during races after Bubba Wallace, the only full-time black driver, called for its removal.

“No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. It starts with Confederate flags,” Wallace said. “Get them out of here. They have no place for them.”

“There’s going to be a lot of angry people that carry those flags proudly, but it’s time for change. We have to change that, and I encourage NASCAR to have those conversations to remove those flags,” he continued.

NASCAR’s changes, which come in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, appear to have earned the support of several drivers past and present who appeared together in a video denouncing racism, which Wallace posted on his Twitter account.