Rope thought to be noose had been in Wallace’s racing stall for months, NASCAR says
The rope found in Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday had been there since last fall and is a misunderstanding, the FBI said in a statement Tuesday.
“The FBI has completed its investigation at Talladega Superspeedway and determined that Bubba Wallace was not the target of a hate crime,” the statement on Twitter read.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps addressed the media shortly after NASCAR released its statement.
“For us at NASCAR, this is the best result we could hope for,” Phelps said. “This is disturbing to hear that it was thought that one of our own had committed this heinous act. It is fantastic to hear from the FBI definitively that there was not a hate crime.”
On Monday during the rescheduled GEICO 500 race at Talladega, NASCAR drivers and crew members showed solidarity for Wallace, who is Black, by pushing his car to the starting line , McClatchy News reported.
But on Tuesday, after an investigation, the FBI report concludes, “and photographic evidence confirms, that the garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose had been positioned there since as early as last fall.”
The team at Wood Brothers Racing aided in the investigation, according to a statement the team put out on Twitter. The tweet also explained what happened in regards to the rope.
“We are thankful that there was no one involved in perpetrating hate during this weekend’s race. Just like the rest of the NASCAR garage, we were shocked and appalled to learn of the existence of the rope fashioned like a noose,” the statement read.
A Wood Brothers employee alerted team members, without knowing the details of the incident involving Wallace’s stall, that he had seen a “tied handle in the garage pull-down rope last fall,” according to the statement.
”We immediately alerted NASCAR and have assisted the investigation in every way possible. What transpired over the past day plus is a unity that has only served to strengthen the bonds between each and every crew member, fan and non-fan alike. The Wood Brothers organization is proud to stand with Bubba Wallace and the entire industry as we work to make every race fan a part of our NASCAR family.”
The 26-year-old Wallace, who races the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL 1 1LE for Richard Petty Motorsports, is the only full-time Black driver currently on the NASCAR Cup Series.
Phelps reiterated that the 43 team “had nothing to do with this.”
“The evidence is very clear that the noose that was in that garage had been in the garage previously,” Phelps said. “The last race we had had there in October, that noose was present.”
“We had not been back to the garage,” Phelps continued. “It was a quick one‑day show. The (No. 43) crew member went back in there. He looked and saw the noose, brought it to the attention of his crew chief, who then went to the NASCAR series director Jay Fabian, and we launched this investigation.”
Phelps also reiterated multiple times that NASCAR would not do anything differently in regards to launching an investigation.
“To be clear, we would do this again,” Phelps said. “Of the evidence that we had, it was clear that we needed to look into this.”
Phelps did not answer any media questions Tuesday. NASCAR said it would take questions at a later date after the sanctioning body concludes its part of the investigation.
“We are continuing our portion of the investigation to try to determine why there was a rope fashioned into a noose,” Phelps said. “Which obviously happened sometime last October or before.”
NASCAR also said it checked every garage stall and found what appeared to be a noose in just one stall. The sanctioning body said it plans to do a garage sweep prior to haulers entering at all races going forward.
Phelps also addressed the showing of support from the NASCAR industry, when the entire garage rallied around Wallace before the race at Talladega.
“Yesterday to me as a sport was one of the most important days we’ve had,” Phelps said.
“Seeing the support that Bubba had from not just the drivers but all the crews, all the officials who were down in pit road, anyone who was part of that footprint. Everyone wanted to show their support for a family member of NASCAR,” Phelps continued. “We are one big family. We are one large community. And everyone’s belief is that someone was attacking a member of our family.”
“It turned out that that was not the case,” Phelps said. “But at the time that’s what our industry thought, so drivers, crew, our officials, everyone supported Bubba Wallace and the 43 team, and that was a very powerful image in not just the history of our sport but I think in all sports.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Rope thought to be noose had been in Wallace’s racing stall for months, NASCAR says."