NASCAR didn't fine Black driver for protesting anthem. Claim started as satire | Fact check
The claim: NASCAR fined Black driver $100,000 for national anthem protest
An April 17 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows NASCAR driver Rajah Caruth standing for the national anthem with his hands behind his back. Next to him is a former driver holding a cap over his chest.
“NASCAR Fines Rajah Caruth $100K For Anthem Protest: ‘We’re Not Doing That Here,’” reads both the caption and the text in the image.
Versions of the post were shared more than 60 times in a week, according to social media analytics tool CrowdTangle.
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Our rating: False
This didn’t happen. There was no protest and no fine, according to a spokesperson for Caruth's racing team. The claim originated on a satirical account, but the Facebook post makes no mention of that.
‘Rajah wasn’t protesting and wasn’t fined’
The 21-year-old Caruth became the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race with his March victory in a Las Vegas trucks race. The photo shows him standing during the anthem beside Jeff Gordon, a Hall of Fame driver-turned-executive in an organization that sponsors Caruth. The post accentuates the difference in their postures.
Fact check: NASCAR will not do away with opening prayer, national anthem
But the claim about Caruth is “patently false,” said Matt Klug, a spokesperson for his team, Spire Motorsports.
“Rajah wasn’t protesting and wasn’t fined,” Klug told USA TODAY.
There is, accordingly, no mention of Caruth being fined on NASCAR’s account on X, formerly Twitter, on the organization's website or on a site that tracks penalties assessed to drivers.
The claim originated in an April 13 Facebook post by an account for America’s Last Line of Defense, a network of satirical websites. Its bio states that “nothing on this page is real.”
The April 17 Facebook post is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where content originally presented as satire is captured and reposted in a way that makes it appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, which is what happened here.
The image shown in the post was first shared April 9 by Spire Motorsports and shows Caruth and Gordon standing for the anthem before an April 5 race in Martinsville, Virginia. The version posted by the satirical account includes a watermark with its logo in the lower left corner. That watermark was cropped out of the April 17 Facebook post.
The national debate about athlete conduct during the anthem began in 2016, when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest racial inequality. Since then, athletes across sports who protested in similar ways have at times faced public criticism.
NASCAR changed its guidance in 2020 to allow for protests during the anthem, removing a clause from its advisory that instructed drivers and other team members to stand with their right hands over their hearts.
Player conduct during the anthem has been a frequent source of misinformation online. USA TODAY has debunked false claims that NFL coaches unanimously voted to ban anthem kneeling, that the NFL encouraged players to kneel for Israel before every game and that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce refused an order from his coach to kneel.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
Matt Klug, April 16, Email exchange with USA TODAY
America’s Last Line of Defense, April 13, Facebook post
Spire Motorsports, April 9, Instagram post
NASCAR, accessed April 23, X search
Jayski’s Silly Season Site, accessed April 23, NASCAR penalties
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim NASCAR fined Black driver for anthem protest | Fact check
