NASCAR Cup Series champions Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano were joined by drivers Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney in cutting ties Thursday with Jason Beam, the well-known helmet artist who used his Twitter account to rip NASCAR's decision to ban the Confederate flag from its races and tracks.
One of the tweets from the @BEAMdesigns account read: "The Confederate Flag, North vs South in the Civil War, a war over separation of the Union, not slavery. But hey ignorance wins again, NASCAR you realize the North had slaves too, lol not just the South, you want to remove the American Flag as well, idiots."
He also tweeted that he did not support "erasing only particular elements of history'' to please a particular audience.
Wallace made his thoughts on Beam's posts clear on Twitter.
Nah homie, as person I've done business with in the past and ALWAYS respected the work you've done for ones in the industry. You made it clear of where you stand in today's matter. All respect lost for ya dawg. #garbage https://t.co/x9hqscckOS pic.twitter.com/DgYjWtrsTo
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) June 11, 2020
Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR champion, also cut ties with BEAMdesigns.
"Due to recent posts on social media I have decided to end my relationship with Beam Designs,'' Johnson tweeted.
Logano and Blaney also tweeted that they had cut ties with Beam, with Beam replying to Johnson and Blaney and wishing them well in the future.
Busch also severed his relationship with Beam, The Associated Press reported.
Truck Series driver Ray Ciccarelli posted Wednesday on Facebook that he would quit the series after the season, writing: "I could care less about the Confederate Flag but there are ppl that do and it doesn't make them a racist.''
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.