JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – NASCAR went into more detail on Thursday about the noose that was found in the garage of driver Bubba Wallace last weekend in Talladega that sparked an FBI investigation into a possible hate crime.
It released a photo of the rope that was tied into a noose and it was evident that’s what it was. After finding the rope that was tied to look like a noose, NASCAR said that it asked track officials to check the garage stalls at each facility on the circuit. It said that among the 1,684 garage stalls at 29 tracks, only 11 had pull-down ropes that were tied in a knot. Only one was tied in the shape of a noose.
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NASCAR releases photo to the media of the garage pull rope formed as a noose from the Bubba Wallace garage Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) June 25, 2020
This image was provide by NASCAR. pic.twitter.com/Z4ZyBzpREF
That one was in the stall of Wallace, the only full-time Black driver on NASCAR’s main circuit. Wallace was assigned that stall at Talladega and a crew member of his team saw it.
The FBI was called in and investigated it as a possible hate crime. It said in a statement on Tuesday that the rope had been hanging in the No. 4 stall, the one Wallace received, since last fall. No federal hate crime charges were filed.
“Upon learning of and seeing the noose, our initial reaction was to protect our driver. We’re living in a highly charged and emotional time. What we saw was a symbol of hate and was only present in one area of the garage and that was of the 43 car of Bubba Wallace,” NASCAR president Steve Phelps said. “In hindsight, I should have used the word ‘alleged’ in our statement.
“As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba. With similar emotion, others across our industry and our media stood up to defend the NASCAR family. Our NASCAR family. Because they are part of the NASCAR family, too. We are proud to see so many stand up for what’s right.”
