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Rope found hanging in Wallace’s garage was coincidence

NASCAR
stood by its decision to alert federal authorities to a rope that
resembled a noose found in Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega
Superspeedway, even after the investigation determined it had been there
since at least last October.

U.S. Attorney Jay Town and FBI
Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. said Tuesday an 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 pull
down rope that resembled a noose.

Wallace is the only Black
driver at NASCAR’s top level and has become a leading activist in the
sport during a push for racial equality. He has worn an “I Can’t
Breathe” shirt, had a Black Lives Matter paint scheme and successfully
pushed NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag.

In using his newfound
voice, the 26-year-old has said he’s received death threats and NASCAR
had assigned him at-track security.

It made for heightened
sensitivity and a potential overreaction when a crew member for Richard
Petty Motorsports reported a noose had been found sometime after
Sunday’s race was delayed by rain. NASCAR said it was “angry and
outraged” over the “heinous act” that the series directly linked to
racism.

The FBI sent 15 agents to Talladega for Monday’s
rescheduled race at the same time the industry rallied around Wallace.
In an unprecedented show of solidarity, every team member on pit road
lined up behind him during the national anthem.

NASCAR President
Steve Phelps has taken exactly nine questions about the finding in
Wallace’s garage and none provided any details of the incident. Because
of health protocol restrictions, a limited number of personnel have
access to the garage. Drivers, including Wallace, never saw the rope.

Roughly
48 hours after the discovery, federal authorities said video confirmed
the rope “was in that garage as early as October 2019″ hanging from a
garage door. The rope was referred to as a noose, but can be used as a
handle when closing the door.

Phelps continued to call it a noose
after authorities said no charges would be filed, and held firm in that
NASCAR is investigating why the rope was tied that way. He was pleased
it wasn’t a hate crime directed at Wallace, but insisted NASCAR would
have conducted its investigation the same way even now knowing it was
just a coincidence.

“We would have done the same investigation. It was important for us to do,” he said.

“The
evidence was very clear that the noose that was in the garage was in
there previously. The last race we had in October, that noose was
present. The evidence we had, it was clear we needed to look into this.”

He took no questions on the FBI’s findings.

Meanwhile,
Wood Brothers Racing team said it cooperated with the investigation and
an employee informed the team he recalled “seeing a tied handle in the
garage pull down rope from last fall,” when the team had the stall.

NASCAR
saying it had found a noose stunned the stock car series as it takes an
active position in a push for inclusion while distancing itself from
its rocky racial history. The series first tried to ban the Confederate
flag five years ago but did nothing to enforce the order.

Wallace
two weeks ago renewed the call for a ban and NASCAR answered, but it
has yet to detail how it will stop the display. Talladega marked the
first race since the coronavirus pandemic that fans were permitted —
5,000 were allowed to purchase tickets — and some upset with the flag
ban paraded past the main entrance with the Southern symbol. A banner
flew over the speedway Sunday of a Confederate flag that read “Defund
NASCAR.”