SHOW OF SUPPORT
Teams accompany Wallace to start; probe launched after noose found in stall
A day after a noose was discovered in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace, the rest of NASCAR showed their support of the Cup Series’ only black full-time driver.
With Wallace steering and Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney pushing the No. 43 car, the rest of the drivers and crew members followed to the front of pit road before the start of Monday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.
After the display, Wallace sat on the edge of the car’s window and sobbed. Team owner Richard Petty was there to place a comforting hand on the driver’s shoulder. It was the first race the 82year-old racing legend has attended since NASCAR resumed its season May 17 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I believe in my heart this despicable act is not representative of the competitors I see each day in the NASCAR garage area,” Petty said earlier in a statement. “I stand shoulder to shoulder with Bubba, yesterday, today, tomorrow and every day forward.”
Also at Talladega, the hashtag“#IStandWithBubba” had been painted in the grass.
Earlier this month, Wallace urged NASCAR to ban Confederate flags at its events in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. A day later, the ban was in place.
Because of thunderstorms, the race was postponed to Monday. The noose was found Sunday afternoon by a member of Wallace’s
crew and reported to NASCAR.
U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town announced Monday that his office, the FBI and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division are reviewing the incident.
“Regardless of whether federal charges can be brought, this type of action has no place in our society,” Town said.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps declined to disclose how many surveillance cameras, if any, are in the Talladega garage and what, if any, footage might have been captured, citing the ongoing investigation of the FBI, which was summoned to the track Monday morning.
For the same reason, he declined to reveal the number of people who had access to the infield garage in general or the area of Wallace’s No. 43 stall, saying such details were part of the FBI’s investigative process.
Under the sport’s safety protocols to guard against transmission of the novel coronavirus, the number is likely 700900, which would include 640 team members and essential NASCAR and track personnel, such as racecar inspectors, security and safety crews. Each must show proper credentials to enter the garage, as well as submit to a temperature check to enter the track.
In a conference call with reporters shortly before Monday’s race, Phelps, the NASCAR president who announced the ban on displays of the Conference flag, didn’t hesitate when
“I stand shoulder to shoulder with Bubba, yesterday, today, tomorrow and every day forward.”
Team owner Richard Petty
asked whether the perpetrator would be banned.
“Unequivocally, they will be banned from the sport for life,” Phelps said. “There is no room for this at all. We won’t tolerate it. They won’t be here. I don’t care who they are: They will not be here.”