NASCAR didn't abide by the lease contract so the sign was taken down. What's the big deal? If they want to put up the sign again, buy their own land.
NA$CAR didn't lease the sign, the Sons of Confederate Veterans did. NA$CAR just complained about it.
You are both right of course. It is not a freedom of speech issue and a landowner should be able to do whatever with their own land, which the railroad did. However I do have to agree with the comment in the article Re: had this been an ad for NAACP membership not one word would have been said. In the unlikely event that something was said or the sign removed, lawsuits would have been sure to follow. There are groups one can disrepect with impunity and groups one must revere.. apparently.
"If they want to put up the sign again, buy their own land."
Or find a property owner along US 52 willing to rent space on his land. It would seem to me that the Sons of the Confederate Veterans should have no problem finding a landowner along US 52 in Darlington, SC, willing to put up a sign honoring the Confederate flag and defending Southern heritage.