NASCAR has released a photo of the rope in Bubba Wallace’s garage which prompted some to believe that a noose had been purposely hung there to send a racial message.
The images and comments from the Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, were tweeted out Thursday morning:
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
NASCAR president Steve Phelps says its own investigation has been completed. "In hindsight, I should have used the word alleged." But says the noose was real and the concern for Bubba Wallace was real. That was the only rope in the garage tied this way.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 25, 2020
NASCAR says it investigated how the noose got there in the first place. It was tied sometime during the October 2019 race weekend, but NASCAR was unable to determine who did it. It asked all 29 tracks to look for other nooses this week and this was the only one found.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 25, 2020
NASCAR president Steve Phelps says he takes "full responsibility" for the wording being wrong. Felt a driver had been threatened and it was on NASCAR to react and investigate. Says to suggest Bubba Wallace was in any way involved is offensive.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 25, 2020
If the noose was there since last October, why didn't anyone report it until now? NASCAR's Phelps says that's a problem. "Odds are someone saw it and didn't react negatively to it. We need to make sure that doesn't happen in the future. We need to do better as an industry."
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 25, 2020
At least 15 FBI agents were dispatched to investigate the rope as a possible hate crime. Though, after determining that the rope had been there since last October and there’s no way anyone could know that Wallace would be assigned that garage, they determined no hate crime had occurred.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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