Nashville Fairgrounds Faces Another Setback Over Confederate Flag Oversight

A Pure Stock car with a Confederate flag painted on its roof raced at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on Friday, Nov. 6. Track officials say nobody alerted them to the decal until the following Tuesday. Photos had been circulating online since the weekend.

Joseph West Jr. of Charlotte, Tenn., drove the car in one of the track’s local divisions during the All-American 400 weekend. Restore Our Fairgrounds, the group seeking to remove racing from the city-owned property, posted images of the car Nov. 8 and linked them to local officials who have said the speedway’s “culture” needs protecting.

In a post on X, Short Track Scene’s Matt Weaver reported that the timing is especially difficult for the track because that group is now using the incident in its push to have voters remove racing from the property.

On Nov. 12, Nashville NAACP president Timothy Hughes sent Fairgrounds Nashville executive director Laura Womack a letter seeking written answers. Who inspects the cars? How many times has this one raced at the track, and did it carry the flag before? What policy covers Confederate flags and other hate symbols? What remedies does the Fair Board have under its contract with promoter Track Enterprises?

Hughes asked that the letter enter the board’s official record, that the incident go on its next agenda, and that a response arrive within 10 business days naming the officials responsible for corrective action. The Metro Council Minority Caucus joined the call for accountability the next day.

Womack told Metro councilmembers in an email that the speedway does not permit the display of the Confederate flag and that officials are working with the driver and race team. Promoter Bob Sargent called the incident an oversight that should not have happened. He told NewsChannel 5 that officials typically look for inappropriate symbols and writing during inspections, and he suspects the car was missed because it ran in an earlier race in a lower division.

He said officials will put eyes on every car at inspections going forward. Sargent has held the speedway’s promotional rights since 2020, and the arrangement was recently extended into 2027.

West told Axios it was the car’s first appearance at the Fairgrounds this season and that he plans to replace the flag with an American flag. “Bob called us and let us know it’s not allowed,” he said. West also said minorities are part of his family and that, within it, the design is not a racial or political slur. Sargent told NewsChannel 5 that West said he had just bought the car and that West apologized.

NewsChannel 5’s Investigation report found photos on West’s Facebook page of a different car with a Confederate flag at the track as early as 2022, plus another photo showing a flag car in the pits in 2024. Viewers also sent the station a 2022 photo of three cars with flags on their roofs, though the station noted it was hard to tell whether they were parked at the Fairgrounds.

The report did not establish that the Nov. 6 car appeared in the earlier images. Councilmember Quin Evans Segall wrote in a letter to Womack that she understands this car has appeared at the track before and that the incident was “not a mere mistake.”

Fair Board chairman Jasper Hendricks said he met with speedway staff after the race and is confident they will do a better job enforcing standards on offensive language and imagery. He also said that, as a government body, the board cannot regulate speech. Councilmember Terry Vo, whose district includes the track, called the incident “unacceptable.”

The Nashville Scene reported that councilmembers have raised possible contract violations by Track Enterprises, a private company. NASCAR has banned the flag at its events since June 2020.

The incident comes during an active ballot fight. On Oct. 16, the Davidson County Election Commission certified 47,679 valid signatures on the Restore Our Fairgrounds petition, against 40,194 required; 27,567 were rejected.

Chancellor Anne Martin dismissed a lawsuit from petition opponents Oct. 28, ruling the commission was not required to create a process for withdrawing signatures. Decline to Sign has said it will pursue a writ of certiorari. If certification stands, voters would decide in 2027 whether to replace racing’s charter protection, approved by county voters in 2011, with affordable housing and green space.

The petition drive has drawn its own scrutiny. NewsChannel 5 aired hidden-camera video of canvassers making questionable claims to collect signatures, and Decline to Sign says more than 2,000 residents asked to have their names removed. Restore Our Fairgrounds says it honored 542 verified requests and that canvassers were trained to explain the petition, though it has acknowledged some may have misspoken.

Cars have raced at the Fairgrounds since 1904. The NASCAR Cup Series last ran there in 1984 and returned to the area in 2021 at Nashville Superspeedway, about 30 miles away. Speedway Motorsports, led by Marcus Smith, has pursued a renovation partnership with the city, and NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell said in April the sanctioning body remains interested, calling it an uphill effort. Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have publicly backed a return.

Track Enterprises is expected to appear before the Fair Board at its December meeting. Sargent told NewsChannel 5 he is willing to speak with Hughes and answer questions before the next race in March 2027.

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