DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR announced Friday it won’t return to the Trump National Doral for its Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series award ceremonies, a few hours after a high-profile sponsor threatened a boycott.
NASCAR vice president of Integrated Marketing Communication David Higdon said the decision was made after a week of discussion and feedback from sponsors.
Higdon said the new location for the awards ceremonies would be announced later this summer, and NASCAR was keeping its options open on moving it out of South Florida. NASCAR has held awards ceremonies before at the ballroom adjacent to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.
In an open letter Friday to NASCAR chairman Brian France, Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis said he and his employees wouldn’t attend another postseason awards ceremony if it were held at a property associated with Trump.
“We’re happy to hear from Marcus and as well as all our other partners,” Higdon said.
The text of the letter by Lemonis, who also hosts The Profit on CNBC:My company, Camping World/Good Sam, has enjoyed a long running relationship with NASCAR as I believe the vision of our companies both embody family, respect, unity, comradery and diversity. These sentiments are at the core of what our country stands for and will continue to embrace.
Last year, our NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Awards Ceremony was held at the Trump National Doral in Miami, and due to recent and ongoing blatantly bigoted and racist comments from Donald Trump in regards to immigrants of the United States, I would like to inform you that I will not, nor will any representative of Camping World, participate or attend in the ceremonial event if it is held at any Trump property.
Our company will not stand to support any person or organization that associates with such beliefs and we feel strongly about distancing ourselves from any negative and discriminatory comments made against any gender, ethnicity, age group or so forth. I would hope that the entire NASCAR organization would agree with my sentiments.
Please confirm receipt of my letter as soon as possible so that we can discuss this serious matter. I appreciate the relationship that Camping World and NASCAR have nurtured over the past few years and thank you for promptly addressing this.
The Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series awards ceremonies were held concurrently last year at the Trump National Doral with Trump in attendance.
Trump announced his candidacy for U.S. president last month. NBCUniversal announced this week it would end its business relationship with Trump, which includes the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, because of derogatory statements he made regarding immigrants.
NBCUniversal’s parent company is Comcast, which also has a title sponsorship of a NASCAR series through its Xfinity brand.