NASCAR's 'Pride Month' Decision Isn't Very Gay, Black Driver Not Named Bubba Wins & Race Wife's Bikini Promise

Here we are, boys and girls. June. NASCAR. Nashville. Pride month. Bikinis. Dale Jr. Amazon. Angry Ryan Blaney. A black driver not named Bubba in victory lane. 

I mean, did we have ourselves a big weekend, or WHAT? Don't you dare tell me this sport is dying. It's alive and well, folks. We've got nonsense happening all over the place right now. 

Now, I spent most of my night trying to walk my 87-year-old mamaw through Amazon Prime, but whatever. Missed dinner, half the race, and bedtime with my kids, but I knew this was coming. It was only a matter of time. 

Thanks, NASCAR! 

Anyway, we're gonna get to all of it today. And I do mean all of it! 

We had a halfway decent race last night in Nashville. Not the best, but Nashville usually isn't. It was fine. Crazy restarts, a lot of green flag pit stops, some decent strategy calls. Solid, if not spectacular. 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hates Carson Hocevar now and said he's going to punt his ass to the moon soon enough, so we've got that going for us! 

What else? I've got NASCAR's … interesting … decision with their annual Pride social media post that certainly didn't go unnoticed, Rajah Caruth winning Saturday night's Busch Series race, and Samantha Damn Busch giving us our first summer #heater of 2025. 

Does our girl still have it, or WHAT? The First Lady of NASCAR is back, baby!

Four tires, some of that Sunoco racin' fuel, and maybe a big ‘ol dumpster for all those Yaaascar pride shirts that are now certainly going to waste … Monday Morning Pit-Stop – the ’We're Sitting This One Out' edition – is LIVE!

No NASCAR pride gaslighting this year

So, here's the thing … I didn't want to start today's talk like this. I promise. I certainly didn't intend to. 

But, Ryan Blaney won going away last night, and led pretty much the last 50 laps. I'm not really sure what else to do with that. We're gonna get to the race, but we need to start with the angry Lib race face lashing out at NASCAR for not shoving pride month down our throats yesterday. 

For those who don't follow these things, June is pride month – which is fine. I'm not here to shit on pride month. I don't care. 

What I do care about, however, is corporations shoving these things down our throats (unfortunate pun not intended). That bugs the hell out of me. It's all fake, and it's all for the clicks and the brownie points and to appease the insufferable progressive mob. 

Anyway, most leagues stayed the course yesterday. The insufferable WNBA. MLB. The NFL retweeted a bunch of pride posts from teams. The NBA retweeted something about it. 

But NASCAR? Crickets. Nothing. Nada. Quiet as a mouse. This, by the way, after pumping out a shit-ton of pride posts every year since 2020 – at least. Trust me, I went back and looked. 

Oh, you need some proof? Really? Fine! Take this, for example, from 2022:

Or this, from last year:

Or this one, from two years ago:

I could go on and on, but you get the picture here. 

Yesterday, though? Just business. No funny business. No virtue-signaling. No gaslighting. No fake-caring about a social issue just to make the mob happy. 

Just race day stuff. And buddy, some of the folks NOTICED:

I might be on the Carson Hocevar bandwagon

Look, I'm not here to shit on pride month. Or gay people. I told you, I don't care. Y'all do what y'all want to do. I once had a neighbor in a cowboy hat tell me, ‘Buddy, it’s your property, do what you want with it,' and that's always stuck with me. 

But, what annoys me is the virtue-signaling. The month-long celebrations that never used to be a thing, and are only a thing now because of this insufferable progressive movement. 

That's when I get annoyed. So, kudos to NASCAR for stopping with the nonsense this year. I'm not surprised, frankly. Trump was at the Daytona 500. Riley Gaines gave the invocation at COTA. Pete Hegseth was in Charlotte last week. 

I mean, at some point, you have to at least take a peak at the tea leaves, right? I've said for months now that NASCAR has made a conscious decision to lean back to the right, which makes sense given who's in office right now. 

Thank goodness that bullet in Butler went just to the right, too, or we'd be COOKED today! 

Thoughts? Lemme know! Zach.Dean@OutKick.com. 

Anyway, back to the track … 

I think I'm all in on this Carson Hocevar. He finished second last night. He's been fast all year. He's wrecked the shit out of cars because he's super aggressive and drives like a pissed-off teenager. 

Last night, he wrecked Ricky Stenhouse in the second stage. Unfortunately for Carson, Ricky is also super aggressive, and will most likely put his ass in a wall here pretty soon:

Chase Elliott's big problem, Rajah's big win, and Blaney's big breakfast!

I mean, just look at that picture. What a shirt. What a dude. I think Carson Hocevar is one win away from really bursting onto the scene, and I think that win is coming sooner than folks realize. 

He drives a SPIRE car, and he's consistently fast every week. Do you understand how hard that is to pull off? 

More importantly, he just gets it. Some drivers get it. Chase Elliott does not. We'll get to him here in a minute. But Carson Hocevar? He's personable. He's marketable. He loves this sport. He drives a Dale Sr. pickup truck. He's always fast. He mixes it up. 

I'm telling you, he's one win away. 

You see? Some have it. Some don't. That's a dude right there who has it. 

Which brings me to my next point … I've said for months now (years, really) that NASCAR has a marketing problem, mainly because Chase Elliott doesn't seem at all interested in carrying the Dale Jr. mantle. 

And, right on cue, would you look at who is no longer No. 1 in merchandise sales for the first time in years:

Ya'll want a quick history lesson before we move on here?

Chase Elliott has been the Cup Series' Most Popular Driver – as voted on by the fans – since 2018. Before him, Dale Earnhardt Jr. held that title from 2003-17. 

Chase's daddy, Bill Elliott, held it in 2002, Dale Sr. was obviously the choice in 2001, and Elliott again held it from 1991-2000. 

The last time an Elliott or an Earnhardt wasn't No. 1? Darrell Waltrip, in 1990. That would be the first George Bush adminstration, for those keeping track back at home. That's a long time. 

Including last night's 15th-place finish, Chase has now won one time in the past 109 points-paying Cup races. That's embarrassing. 

NASCAR was counting on him to be the next Dale Jr., and he was there for a while. But, nearly 10 years into his Cup career, I don't think he wants anything to do with that responsibility anymore. 

That list should be a major wake-up call for Elliott, and a red flag for NASCAR. The latter is certainly taking notice. The former may not care at all.  

OK, two quickies on the way out. First up? A black NASCAR driver won this weekend and his name wasn't Bubba Wallace. Did y'all know that was even possible?! 

And, as far as I can tell, nobody hates Rajah Caruth. There were no nasty comments on social media. I looked. I scrolled. Nothing, as far as I could tell. 

It's interesting, to say the least:

I've long said … NASCAR fans don't hate Bubba because he's black. Sure, some do, and those fans are losers. But there are bad apples in every fanbase. 

They hate Bubba because of the noose incident in Talladega, which, coincidentally, happened five years ago this month! 

Happy anniversary to all who celebrate the lowest, most asinine moment in NASCAR history!

Anyway, here's Ryan Blaney – who should probably be No. 1 in sales, if we're being honest – finally winning an automobile race last night:

Take us home, Sam!

See? That guy gets it, too. Good drive from Blaney last night. He was way overdue for a win, and couldn't have picked a more fitting race than the Cracker Barrel 400. 

No pride post AND the return of the Cracker Barrel 400 on the same day? That's the NASCAR I grew up with!

Take us to Michigan, Sam Busch.