Texas Motor Speedway’s iconic Victory Lane celebration that features the winning driver firing blanks from a pair of six-shooters may be altered for its upcoming Sprint Cup event on April 13.
With that race’s sponsorship coming from the National Rifle Association, track president and general manager Eddie Gossage is taking potential concerns from team owners and sponsors into account as he looks into possibly changing his post-race activities.
“I don’t want to affect some sponsor on a uniform somewhere that says, ‘I didn’t want that picture. I didn’t want my driver with a gun in his hand,'” Gossage told USA Today’s Nate Ryan yesterday. “Even though it’s a cap gun. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s sponsorship.”
Ryan reports that Gossage will talk with NASCAR team owners about the situation this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and that the final call will likely be made by the winning owner at TMS on whether or not he wants his driver to fire the guns.
“We have to be sensitive to that, so we’ll let the team owner make the call,” Gossage said to Ryan. “They’re all friends of mine. I’ll be in Vegas and I’ll ask them, ‘What do you think?’ and do whatever the team owner wants to do.”
As expected, the announcement of the “NRA 500” at the 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth has garnered attention in the sports world. It came roughly a week after Michael Waltrip ran a car in the Daytona 500 that supported a relief fund for victims of the Dec. 14, 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Considering the volatile nature of the gun control debate in America following the Newtown massacre, it’s safe to assume that some will question TMS’ decision to allow the NRA to sponsor its spring Cup race. Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs of NBC Sports Network’s “The Crossover” (Weeknights, 6 pm ET) have weighed in on the topic, and you can check out what they have to say here.