By: Ashley McCubbin

If you were on any form of social media before the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, you probably came across a video featuring several personalities from the sport. The drivers had one message to share – they are listening.

Following the death of a black man George Floyd as a result of actions by a Minnesota police officer on May 25, individuals have been protesting across the country that #BlackLivesMatter and are hopeful changes will be made by everybody to take a stand against racism.

The video from NASCAR showcases the drivers taking a united front, while sharing their listening to others and can no longer remain silent themselves.

The sanctioning body got behind the message, as well, stopping the cars on pit road for 30 seconds of silence following a message from NASCAR President Steve Phelps. In his delivery over the radio, he stated both the sport and country must do better, after acknowledging the “black community and all people of color have suffered in our country, and it has taken far too long for us to hear their demands for change.”

NASCAR on FOX also took part in sharing their take, with Jeff Gordon offering some key words in the name of change before the event.

The movement by both the drivers and series was kick-started through a group chat they have together with Bubba Wallace asking for everybody to join him in speaking out.

“We have got to do better, we’ve got to step up,” Wallace said on the Dale Jr. Download about a message he sent to fellow Cup drivers. “I encourage everybody to say what they feel. … This is way more important than any race win, any championship that you’ve ever accomplished. This is something that can change on a global impact.”

The Richard Petty Motorsports driver then began to follow through himself, expressing what he’s been through and his take through the Dale Jr. Download, NASCAR Race Hub, and other places. Other drivers began to showcase their stance, with several taking part in #BlackOutTuesday and Ty Dillon having a conversation with Wallace over Instagram to hear his story.

Though the video on Sunday, it was the first time that fans saw all of the drivers coming together as one on the issue.

“As far as all the other drivers and us all getting together and just having a say, we wanted to put out a powerful statement and a message, and so I feel like we all did that together with NASCAR, and went well from all of our standpoints, so we’re happy to be able to do that and show our support to the black community,” Kyle Busch said. “I also sat down this week with Jonathan Stewart, who was a former running back for the Carolina Panthers, and he and I were friends, so we had a good conversation this past week, so we recorded that, and we’re going to do some edits on that and be able to put that out, as well, from my side.

“I know I think Bubba Wallace did it with Ty Dillon, as well, so stuff like that has been happening, and it’s a time for us to take initiative but also to listen and learn and go from there.

The ideology behind encouraging people to listen to others, emphasize, and work together through change came from drivers having done so themselves thus far. Jimmie Johnson said a conversation he was able to have with Wallace began to resonate things with him.

“I just wanted to check in on him as a friend and where our conversation went was good for me,” Johnson commented. “And then I spent the majority of the week reaching out to other black friends that I have around the country and just checking in, checking in on them, wondering what they’re thinking, wondering how they’re doing, and then just listening, and then it was really good for me.

“There’s a lot of noise out there, but the conversations I had on just basic human rights and being kind to one another rung true for me, and I know that’s where it came from for myself.  I’m not sure about the other guys.”

Ryan Blaney has also learned from similar experience, having heard stories from friends of his and attending a couple protests.

“I’ve learned a lot from them, not only the past 10 days but for a long time just understanding,” Blaney said. “I actually walked around in Charlotte earlier this week during the day with some buddies and was in a couple of the peaceful protests and just seeing and talking and learning about it.  That’s just something that you want to get involved with and support your fellow human being.

“We all have to treat each other equally.  It kind of disgust me when the race thing comes up and people hate a person for being a different pigment, and not judging them by their character.  That’s just something that I can never understand, but it’s nice that I think a lot of people are really supporting it and it has a lot of traction behind it, and I thought today what they did on the frontstretch was a really good gesture to show how much we support them.”

While the conversations have been nice, it’s not the only thing that needs to take place, as Kevin Harvick hopes they lead to a plan and action taking place.

“For me, something just has to change, and I think when you look at what happened in Minnesota, it’s just disgraceful to everyone,” he said. “To be able to have conversations about things, I’m definitely a person that wants to hear a plan that has actions included in it, and just try to support each other and do the things that we can do to try to help our communities and help the conversations because there’s so much that everyone doesn’t understand of what we need to do and how we need to do it.  But I can tell you that we need change.

“The actions from that event in Minnesota, it’s just unbelievable that we sit and watch these things happen, and it’s just really confusing.  It makes you confused, mad, not know what to do, where to start, and that’s just where a lot of guys talked about it, and we started.

“I think it’s definitely a step, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”