Noah Gragson, a driver for NASCAR's Legacy Motor Club, has been suspended by his team for liking a George Floyd meme on social media. Gregson appeared to like a meme on Instagram which photoshopped George Floyd's face onto an image of Sebastian from The Little Mermaid with the caption "Under Da Knee" in reference to Floyd's murder in 2020. Additionally, at the time of writing, Gragson is 33rd in the NASCAR standings. His best finish this season was a 12th-place finish at the Ambetter Heath 400. He also had a 20th-place finish at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.
"We have made the decision to suspend Noah Gragson effective immediately regarding his actions that do represent the values our team. Josh Berry will drive the No. 42 entry for this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan," the team wrote on social media. "I am disappointed in myself for my lack of attention and actions on social media. I understand the severity of this situation." Gragson's post continued "I love and appreciate everyone. I try to treat everyone equally no matter who they are, I messed up plain and simple."
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Gregson Out Indefinitely
Sunday's Firekeepers Casino 400 in Michigan is the fourth-from-last race in the regular season. Gragson's suspension doesn't really impact the league standings. In 33rd place, Gragson is 271 points behind the 16th-place cutoff for the NASCAR playoffs. With a string of finishes in the mid-20s in his most recent races, it's unlike that Gragson was going to overcome that gap in the standings. However, the move is more emblematic of the progress that the NASCAR Series has made in recent years.
NASCAR has been one of the biggest forces in pushing social justice messages, especially after the murder of George Floyd. “It was a moment in time back in June that seemed, for us, it was the right time to act. I think it was the right time for our country. I think it was the right time for our sport. The response to that was fantastic,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said in 2021. In the subsequent years, NASCAR has gone all in on Pride month and also banned the Confederate flag at their races.
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