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NASCAR car owner Brad Daugherty on Confederate flag: ‘It 100 percent represents hate’

NASCAR Sprint Media Tour - Day 1

NASCAR Sprint Media Tour - Day 1

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Brad Daugherty, an African-American car owner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, spoke strongly against the Confederate flag in an interview Tuesday afternoon on “Sirius Speedway” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

His comments came after NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. issued statements supporting South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s position to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds.

Asked his take on the Confederate flag, Daugherty, who co-owns JTG Daugherty Racing, told SiruisXM NASCAR Radio:

“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, I’m a Southern kid, I’m a mountain kid, I hunt and fish, I love racing, 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. 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.

“It’s so unfortunate that it took nine lives there at the AME church to really get this debate heated up enough that there’s serious questions about whether the flag should be flown over the state capitol. I find that a little bit of appalling and even absurd.

“If you’re at your own home or inside the four walls of your house, that’s your business and I really don’t care, but to have that flag flying over the state capitol as such and what it represents. I got a young guy that I know that I work with and we talk about this and he is one of the sons of the Confederacy, and we talk about this and go back and forth. The old heritage vs. hate thing, in my mind is ridiculous because that flag to any African-American person does not represents any type of heritage. It 100 percent represents hate.’’

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