The noose found hanging in Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway had been there since at least last October, federal authorities said Tuesday in announcing there will be no charges filed.
U.S. Attorney Jay Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. said its investigation determined “although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week.”
A crew member for Richard Petty Motorsports discovered the noose Sunday at the Alabama race track. NASCAR was alerted and contacted the FBI, which sent 15 agents to the track to investigate. They determined no federal crime was committed.
The statement said the garage stall was assigned to Wallace last week in advance of the race scheduled for Sunday but held on Monday because of rain. Through video confirmed by NASCAR it was discovered the noose had been “was in that garage as early as October 2019.”
The agencies said the evidence did not support federal charges.
Wallace, the only Black driver at NASCAR’s top level, successfully pushed the stock car series to ban the Confederate flag at its venues less than two weeks ago.
I guess this makes me feel kinda better that the noose placement wasn’t a direct response to the George Floyd / BLM protests, but it still makes me wonder why it was even there in the first place, no matter how long?
I guess nooses along with white sheets and hoods are things that NASCAR racing crews carry around… you never know
The lengths some people will go to make this all seem like there’s nothing to see here is mind-boggling. I don’t believe this shit for a minute. Why was he assigned that particular garage then? Was that just happenstance too?
It would be a bummer if there is a lynching opportunity that you miss because you don’t have a noose, so the owner always carries one around just in case, and then forgot this one.
How convenient. The story seems more like a circling of the wagons by the Feds and NASCAR. It was in Alabama for goodness sake. And there just happened to be a noose around since October because we all know NASCAR needs to have a noose around?