NASCAR advisor issued multi-week suspension over assault case

New Orleans Saints running back and NASCAR advisor Alvin Kamara has been suspended for the first three games of the 2023 NFL season for his alleged role in an assault.

NASCAR Growth and Engagement Advisor and New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara has officially been suspended for the first three games of the upcoming 2023 NFL season for his alleged role in a physical altercation which took place at a Las Vegas nightclub back in February 2022.

The Saints’ first three games of the season include a home game against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, September 10, a road game against the Carolina Panthers on Monday, September 18, and a road game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, September 24.

Kamara and three others, including Indianapolis Colts cornerback Chris Lammons, Darrin Young, and Percy Harris, were accused of allegedly assaulting a man — beating him and stomping him — while he was laying on the floor outside of the nightclub. Kamara was recently given the chance to tell his side of the story to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Kamara, who admitted to using “poor judgment” as the incident unfolded, is eligible to return to the Saints’ active roster on Monday, September 25. Lammons was also suspended for the first three games of the season and is eligible to return on the same date.

While a three-game suspension under the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy is a significant punishment, it is quite lenient compared to lengths of other similar suspensions, especially considering the magnitude of the evidence associated with the case.

Kamara, who pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit battery and substantial bodily harm charges in March, recently agreed to plead no contest to a lesser misdemeanor charge of breach of peace for his alleged role in the incident. He was issued mandatory community service and a $100,000 fine, which is to go toward the medical bills of the alleged victim, Darnell Green Jr.

As for Alvin Kamara’s involvement in NASCAR, he became interested in the sport in 2020 thanks to his longtime friend Bubba Wallace.

That interest largely stemmed from Wallace and other drivers participating in racial justice activism, including the controversial ban of the Confederate battle flag from NASCAR race tracks and Wallace running a “Black Lives Matter” car in a NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

It ultimately led to Kamara’s Louisiana-based juice and smoothie chain, The Big Squeezy, sponsoring Ryan Vargas’ car in an Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway road course.

Just a handful of months later, NASCAR named the 28-year-old Atlanta, Georgia native their first ever official Growth and Engagement Advisor — or “Chief Engagement Officer”, as he calls it.

To this day, NASCAR has not commented on the alleged assault, and they welcomed Kamara back to the track both last summer and earlier this summer. The decision to stay quiet and effectively ignore the situation has generated plenty of criticism among fans, especially as more and more disturbing details from the night of the incident came to light.