NASCAR suspends registered sex offender indefinitely
By Asher Fair
Indefinite suspensions issued by NASCAR this week were unfortunately not limited to a couple of part-time drivers arrested for DWI.
During the same week they suspended two part-time Xfinity Series/Truck Series drivers indefinitely following their North Carolina arrests for DWI and related traffic charges, NASCAR has also issued an indefinite suspension to a registered sex offender. This too was related to a situation in North Carolina.
Joel Courage was arrested by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Sex Registration Unit last Wednesday, August 9 on charges that he failed to register as a sex offender in North Carolina. In 2008, he was convicted on 14 sex offenses in California.
Following an investigation which began when deputies were notified of the situation the day before his arrest, Courage was charged with seven counts of failure to register, falsification of verification notice, and failure to return verification form.
He has since been suspended indefinitely by NASCAR as a result.
Prior to his arrest and indefinite suspension, the 44-year-old had been operating E33 Motorsports & Development in Mooresville, North Carolina, which is designed to helping find and develop young drivers to prepare them to compete in various motorsports series, including NASCAR’s.
The announcement of his indefinite suspension came on the same day it was announced that NASCAR had suspended two part-time drivers, Jason A. White (not to be confused with fellow NASCAR driver Jason M. White) and Chris Hacker, indefinitely as a result of their DWI arrests and related traffic violations in Huntersville, North Carolina from earlier this month.
Next. All-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list. dark
Hacker has made six starts this season, his first two Xfinity Series starts and four more in the Truck Series. White has made just one start, that being his first Truck Series start since 2014, in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. He attempted to qualify for his first Xfinity Series race since 2021 but failed to do so at Talladega Superspeedway.