(AP)
Confederate flags are as easy to find at NASCAR races as cutoff jeans, cowboy hats and beer.
They fly over motorhomes. They adorn clothing. They are regular fixtures, just like Ford and Chevrolet, and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
NASCAR probably would like to see them go away.
The sanctioning body for the motorsports series backed South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's call to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in the wake of the Charleston church massacre. NASCAR issued its statement Tuesday, the same day South Carolina lawmakers agreed to discuss removing the flag and one day after Haley said "the time has come" to take it down. And that is as far as NASCAR appears willing to go for now.
"As our industry works collectively to ensure that all fans are welcome at our races, NASCAR will continue our long-standing policy to disallow the use of the Confederate flag symbol in any official NASCAR capacity," NASCAR said. "While NASCAR recognizes that freedom of expression is an inherent right of all citizens, we will continue to strive for an inclusive environment at our events."
International Speedway Corp., NASCAR'S sister company that owns a majority of the tracks, echoed the sanctioning body's response.
"We join NASCAR in support of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's position on the Confederate flag," ISC President John Saunders said in a statement. "ISC strives to ensure all fans are welcome to enjoy our events and maintains an inclusive environment at our facilities nationwide. ISC will continue our long-standing practice to prohibit the sale of Confederate flag material on our property."
Saunders declined a request by The Associated Press for further comment. Other tracks did not respond to requests for comment.
Nine people were slain last week at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Dylann Storm Roof, 21, is charged with murder. The white man appeared in photos holding Confederate flags and burning or desecrating U.S. flags, and purportedly wrote of fomenting racial violence.
Big retailers like Wal-Mart, Amazon, Sears, eBay and Etsy all said they would remove Confederate merchandise from their stores or websites and politicians across the South called for various steps to move away from the symbol that many associate with racism.
NASCAR has faced criticism over the years for various issues, often involving sponsors. A decade ago, there were questions when hard liquor companies emerged as potential sponsors for a sport built around fast cars and a series whose founding in 1948 gave ex-moonshiners a place to race. More recently, the National Rifle Association drew attention when it struck a sponsorship deal with Texas Motor Speedway not long after the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Connecticut.
Confederate flags have been flown by fans at NASCAR races for years. For NASCAR's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, a two-and-a-half-hour drive north of Charleston, a Confederate flag theme was part of poster merchandise from the 1950s into the late '70s.
Tracks have long and detailed rules for fans, but none involving the content of flags. Although NASCAR has eliminated the use of Confederate flags in any official capacity, it could take things a step further and include language in sanctioning agreements that would ban them altogether at tracks.
But that would be difficult to enforce at tracks with hundreds of acres of infield space and sometimes more than 100,000 fans.
"There's only so much that you can do with an issue like this if you're NASCAR," said Brad Daugherty, a former NBA star and current co-owner of JTG Daugherty Racing.
"But I will tell you, being an African-American man going to the racetrack and seeing the Confederate flag - and I'm a different egg or a different bird because I'm a Southern kid, I'm a mountain kid, I hunt and fish, I love racing," Daugherty said Tuesday on Sirius XM radio. "But to walk into the racetrack and there's only few that you walk into and see that Confederate flag - it does make my skin crawl. And even though I do my best to not acknowledge it or to pay any attention to it, it's there and it bothers me because of what it represents."
In 2012, NASCAR and track officials canceled plans to have pro golfer Bubba Watson drive the car from the television series "The Dukes of Hazzard" at Phoenix International Raceway, which is owned by ISC. Officials cited concerns about a negative reaction to an image of the Confederate flag on the roof of the "General Lee."
"The image of the Confederate flag is not something that should play an official role in our sport as we continue to reach out to new fans and make NASCAR more inclusive," NASCAR spokesman David Higdon said at the time. Watson said he didn't "stand for the Confederate flag" and noted that NASCAR was "built on moonshining," an occasional theme in the TV show.
Former "Dukes" actor and ex-Georgia Congressman Ben Jones criticized that decision.
"As a cast member of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' and the owner of several 'General Lees,' I can attest that the car and our show reflect the very best of American values, and that Hazzard County was a place where racism was not tolerated," said Jones, who played the mechanic Cooter on the show. "This action by NASCAR is a provocative and unnecessary overreaction to a problem that doesn't exist. It is a disgraceful and gratuitous insult to a lot of very decent people."