NASCAR Fans Defy Request to Hide Confederate Flags at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Fans at Daytona International Speedway are defending and displaying their Confederate flags.

At NASCAR’s first race in the South since the racing series and its tracks urged fans to no longer wave the banner, dozens of Confederate flags were scattered throughout the vast infield.

The first motorhome inside the Turn 4 tunnel has one flying high above it, and it doesn’t take long to reach double figures when counting them on a stroll through the infield. They’re on clothing, coolers and cars, and even tattooed on skin.

NASCAR took a stance on the Confederate flag after last month’s South Carolina church massacre. The series stopped short of banning fans from displaying the flag at its events, but Daytona and 29 other tracks asked fans to refrain from flying them.

Not everyone obliged.