NASCAR has released a photo it says shows that a noose was indeed found in Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama
Declaring “the noose was real,” NASCAR officials on Thursday released a photo of the rope found in the garage stall of Black driver Bubba Wallace that prompted a federal investigation that determined it had been there since last October.
The incident has put racism front and centre for the stock car series that two weeks ago banned the Confederate flag from its venues and races at Wallace’s urging. It also prompted criticism from some fans that NASCAR had somehow overreacted – criticism NASCAR has bristled at and cited in releasing the photo from Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The image was taken by NASCAR security.
“As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba,“ NASCAR president Steve Phelps said. “Based on the evidence we had, we thought our drivers – that one of our drivers had been threatened, a driver who had been extremely courageous in recent words and actions. It’s our responsibility to react and investigate, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Wallace’s team ended up being assigned the only stall among the 44 in Talladega’s infield garage that had a noose that served as a door pull.
Phelps said the noose was not in place when a race meeting began at the track last October but was created at some point during that weekend.
“We have completed our own investigation. I could speculate but it would not do any good,” Phelps said.
“I know we like complete resolution here and have all the answers but based on all the video and photographic evidence and all the interviews we were not able to determine who crafted the noose.
“Given that timing and the garage access policies and procedures at the time, we were unfortunately unable to determine with any certainty who tied this rope in this manner or why it was done.’
“I know that’s not fulfilling, I wish there was more we could do but we can’t so we have drawn this matter to a close.”
