NASCAR and FBI Release Picture of the Rope that Was Fashioned Into a Noose That Was Found In Bubba Wallace’s Garage
Here are the facts, there was a rope found in Bubba Wallace‘s garage at Talladega earlier this week before Wallace himself arrived at the garage. That rope was hanging from the garage door of the stall that was assigned to Wallace. That rope was fashioned into a noose. The rope was not their specifically to send Wallace a message.
According to the FBI’s findings, the rope had been there since October 2019. The rope was reportedly used to help pull down the garage door. Out of every other rope found in the stalls that day, and there were 11 total, none of them were tied like the one that was found in Wallace’s stall.
Nonetheless, the conclusion of the FBI’s investigation was that Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime. And Wallace says that he is relieved to hear that. He also said that he doesn’t want the fact that he wasn’t a victim detract from the show of unity NASCAR put on that day in Talladega before the race.
“It’s been an emotional few days. First off, I want to say how relieved I am that the investigation revealed that this wasn’t what we feared it was. I want to thank my team, NASCAR, and the FBI for acting swiftly and treating this as a real threat. I think we’ll gladly take a little embarrassment over what the alternatives could have been. Make no mistake, though some will try, this should not detract from the show of unity we had on Monday, and the process we’ve made as a sport to be a more welcoming environment for all.”
And while a guest on Comedy Central’s The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah, Wallace walked viewers through the events that transpired that Sunday morning. As Wallace explained, he never physically saw the rope and wasn’t the one to report it. Instead, it was one of his crew members, who rightfully became concerned when he saw the rope and noticed that there wasn’t any other stalls that had a rope fashioned like a noose attached to their doors.
As the driver explained it, he learned about the noose when the president of NASCAR Steve Phelps came into his trailer to express how sorry he was. “He could barely speak and he had tears flowing,” Wallace said as he described Phelps demeanor. “And I knew at that moment it was really bad. And he said there was a hate crime committed so I immediately thought of my family. Then he told me there was a noose found in my garage. I was relieved it wasn’t family, but I was emotional just because it was like man someone went out of their way to portray an image of hate, a symbol of hate.”
As Wallace continued he explained that he was relieved when the FBI revealed he wasn’t a victim of a hate, but admitted to being worried about the narrative changing as a result. With all of it said in done, NASCAR has since come out with another statement reiterating that the concern was real and there is no other way around it.
