Well, I can't exactly say I'm surprised by this at all. It seems that a budding Jewish racing driver from New Jersey says he's encountered a surprising degree of antisemitism during his climb up the NASCAR ladder.

The driver is 20-year-old Jon Denning, who races in the lower-level Whelen All-American Series. He has won seven races in his career and was ranked among the top 500 aspiring stock car drivers before his sponsorship ran dry recently. Denning – who is currently on a birthright in Israel – said that people closely associated with NASCAR attempted to convert him on several occasions. Associates also reportedly told him, “Your luck would be better if you came to Jesus.” As in he'd get fewer flat tires, etc. Because we all know Jesus controls things like that.

NASCAR, which is dominated by white male drivers, recently instituted a diversity program that encourages minorities and women into the upper leagues of the sport. Denning says he applied for the program three times but was turned down after being told in official letters that the minorities program applied only to women, Hispanics and blacks.

As to the trouble finding corporate sponsorship, Denning acknowledges that he wonders occasionally if it's because he's Jewish and not from the South.

"Frankly, I don't think [NASCAR] cares for one," he said.

You know what, I'm not going to mince words here. There's no sport out there in this country where religion (Southern Baptist), ethnicity (white), and politics (Republican) are more critical than in NASCAR. If you don't fit that that description, you're not going to be well liked.

Heck, Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon are scorned just for originally being from California.

Most sports, like baseball, basketball, football, and even hockey, have basically solved the problem of racism in their sports. I'm not saying it doesn't still exist, but it's not anywhere near what it used to be. Those sports have also never had tremendous problems with religion or political persuasion.

But NASCAR certainly seems to. I even remember a story in SI where they asked all the drivers to give their political persuasion. Only 18 guys answered. 17 were Republicans, one was an Independent.

I don't know about you, but that says something to me. It says it's not ok to be certain things and be a NASCAR driver, or at least be sure not to mention your differences it in a public setting.

NASCAR has wondered for a while now why the sport hasn't continued to grow in the United States after surging in popularity in the early 2000s.

You want to know why it hasn't caught on in the rest of the United States and remains a regional sport? Jon Denning can sure as hell tell you why.