A Texas man used a gun to commit suicide at the NRA 500, a NASCAR event sponsored by the rifle association, at the Texas Motor Speedway Saturday.
Kirk Franklin, 42, died after shooting himself at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday during the NRA 500 Sprint Cup race, according to the county medical examiner.
Franklin has been involved in a verbal altercation with other race spectators before the incident, a Fort Worth Police Department spokesman stated.
The body of the deceased, who resided in nearby Saginaw, Tex., was later found in the back seat of a truck, according to an online police report.
Firearms were prohibited by Texas law from being brought to the track by fans.
NRA sponsorship of the race came under scrutiny when Michael Waltrip ran a Sandy Hook benefit car at the Daytona 500 encouraging fans to donate to Newtown, Conn., families.
It was the NRA’s first Sprint Cup Series sponsorship; it had previously sponsored the Nationwide Series race at Atlanta Motor Speeedway in September.
As is custom for all race sponsors, the NRA was offered the chance to buy a premium ad package from Fox including ad time, sponsor mentions and graphics with the race name.
The NRA declined, and thus the race was presented without a sponsor on in-race graphics and the Fox broadcast mentioned the title sponsor once an hour.