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Rope found hanging in Bubba Wallace’s garage was coincidence

AP photo by John Bazemore / Bubba Wallace takes a selfie with fellow NASCAR Cup Series drivers who pushed his car to the front of the pits at Talladega Superspeedway before Monday's race at the Alabama track.
AP photo by John Bazemore / Bubba Wallace takes a selfie with fellow NASCAR Cup Series drivers who pushed his car to the front of the pits at Talladega Superspeedway before Monday's race at the Alabama track. AP photo by John Bazemore / Bubba Wallace takes a selfie with fellow NASCAR Cup Series drivers who pushed his car to the front of the pits at Talladega Superspeedway before Monday's race at the Alabama track.

By JENNA FRYER / The Associated Press 5 min read

NASCAR went to Talladega Superspeedway on heightened alert after Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver currently competing full time in its top-tier Cup Series, took on an active role in a push for racial equality.

Wallace had successfully called for the ban of the Confederate flag and received threats. Fans paraded past the main entrance of the Alabama track displaying the flag, and a plane circled above the speedway Sunday pulling a Confederate flag banner that read “Defund NASCAR.”

So NASCAR moved quickly when one of Wallace’s crew members discovered a rope that resembled a noose in their garage stall. The sanctioning body called in federal authorities, who ruled Tuesday it had been hanging there since at least last October and was not a hate crime.

U.S. Attorney Jay Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. said the investigation determined “nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned” to that same stall. NASCAR said it was the lone garage stall with a pulldown rope that resembled a noose.

NASCAR has defended its reaction and insisted it would call the FBI again. A defiant Wallace said there is no confusion and the rope had been fashioned into a noose.