Bubba Wallace, who is known for being the only African American driver at the top level of NASCAR, spoke out this week to demand that Confederate flags be banned from races. 

NASCAR Driver Bubba Wallace Calls For Ban On Confederate Flag

The No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports driver opened up to CNN about his push to get rid of all Confederate flags at races as racial tensions remain at an all-time high in the United States. 

“My next step would be to get rid of all confederate flags,” Wallace said. “There should be no individual that is uncomfortable showing up to our events to have a good time with their family that feels some type of way about something they have seen, an object they have seen flying.”

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“No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race,” he added. “So it starts with confederate flags. Get them out of here. They have no place for them. The narrative on that before is I wasn’t bothered by it, but I don’t speak for everybody else. I speak for myself. What I am chasing is checkered flags, and that was kind of my narrative.”

CBS Sports noted that NASCAR already has a “long-standing policy to disallow the use of the Confederate flag symbol in any official NASCAR capacity,” but they have not yet banned the flags entirely. 

“Diving more into it and educating myself, people feel uncomfortable with that. People talk about that. That’s the first thing they bring up,” Wallace explained. “So there’s going to be a lot of angry people that carry those flags proudly, but it’s time for change.”

NASCAR Driver Brad Keselowski Disagrees 

However, not everyone agrees with Wallace that Confederate flags should be banned from NASCAR races altogether.

NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski spoke out this week to say that he does not think that this is their “call” as drivers. Keselowski is the No. 2 Ford Mustang for Team Penske.

“I’m not gonna tell people they need to get rid of it,” Keselowski said. “That’s not my right either. But I certainly don’t salute it or respect it or probably anyone else who feels the same way. But, at the end of the day, it’s not our call.”

Bubba Wallace Also Supports Anthem-Kneeling

As well as banning the Confederate flag, Bubba Wallace would like to see more NASCAR drivers taking a knee during the national anthem to protest against police brutality. 

“I was so uneducated on what the kneeling meant when it started. But now, reading about it and what it stands for and what it goes after — I’m still doing a lot of learning myself, don’t get me wrong,” Wallace said.

“I don’t know everything about what’s going on in the world. But that’s what we are trying to deliver the message across: Listen and learn to be able to better educate ourselves.”

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