NASCAR released a photo of the rope fashioned like a noose that was found in Black driver Bubba Wallace’s garage stall Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps told reporters Thursday that the racing league’s own investigation was complete, two days after the FBI announced it had determined the noose was in that stall dating back to October and not a hate crime directed at Wallace.
“As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba,” Phelps said.
But NASCAR did not have conclusive findings about who tied the rope that way in the first place or whether there was malicious intent.
NASCAR just released a photo of the garage pull rope that was fashioned into a noose at Talladega. pic.twitter.com/gRAUAJoYv2
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 25, 2020
The FBI said the rope, while fashioned in the shape of a noose, was there as a garage pull. Wallace has responded by saying he’d never seen a garage pull tied in that way before.
Phelps also reiterated that it was “offensive” for anyone to believe Wallace was involved in placing the noose there himself for attention.
NASCAR was fearful for Wallace’s safety after he spoke out against the presence of the Confederate flag at racetracks earlier this month. NASCAR banned the flag soon after Wallace called for it, but the flag was still present around Talladega last weekend, including a plane that flew the flag overhead.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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