FBI and NASCAR Talking Out of Both Ends of Their Mouths about Bubba Wallace Noose Hoax

FBI Says Noose Found in Bubba Wallace's Garage Didn't Appear to Target Him

An investigation has shown that the noose found in the racetrack stall Sunday had been there for months

By Louise Radnofsky and Andrew Beaton

June 23, 2020 6:17 pm ET

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday that a noose found Sunday in the garage stall of Nascar driver Bubba Wallace had been there for months, and did not appear to have been targeting the lone black driver at the highest level of the sport.

The rope's discovery, involving a star black athlete who had become a leading voice against racism, jolted Nascar and the country at a moment of heightened tensions over racial injustice and race relations. Nascar said it is still investigating why a rope resembling a noose had ever been in the garage in the first place.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney Jay Town of Alabama's Northern District said that agents had reviewed video evidence showing the presence of the noose since at least October 2019, well before the stall was assigned to Wallace ahead of the planned start of the race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

"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," they said in a joint statement. Nascar, in a statement, referred to it as a "garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose."

The incident has the potential to fuel criticisms that protesters of racial injustice are exaggerating problems, or even seeking to create them. Although the federal investigation is complete, Nascar said it will continue to look into why the noose, a symbol of violence and racism against black Americans for their evocation of lynchings of black people that long took place across the South, had been there for months.

Steve Phelps, Nascar's president, said Tuesday that Wallace and his crew had had no involvement in the incident, and that he had no regrets about the way that Nascar had responded. "It is fantastic to hear from the FBI, definitively, that there was not a hate crime," Phelps said. "To be clear: We would do this again."

"We are thankful for the swift and thorough investigation by Nascar and all of the authorities involved," Richard Petty Motorsports, Wallace's team, said in a statement.

The FBI's announcement that the rope was not evidence of a hate crime comes after a charged two days in which the racing circuit expressed revulsion over the alleged incident. Before the race at Talladega was run on Monday, a day late because of a weather delay, rival drivers and their crews marched on the track behind Wallace's car as a show of solidarity with him.

The discovery of the noose on Sunday came as the sport was already grappling with heightened tensions over race. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Wallace emerged a leading activist in the predominantly white sport, calling for a ban on Confederate flags at races and driving a car with the message "Black Lives Matter" on it. Nascar had embraced Wallace's car, and implemented a ban of Confederate flags inside its venues.

Outside Talladega Superspeedway, in Lincoln, Ala., on Sunday, when the race was originally scheduled, fans paraded with Confederate flags in defiance of the new rule. The race was then postponed because of inclement weather until Monday, when the investigation was launched into the incident.

Phelps, who did not take questions on Tuesday, said that the image of support for Wallace was "indelible" for him and that it would be on his mind until the day he died.

"Yesterday, to me, as a sport was one of the most important days that we had," he said. "Everyone's belief was that someone was attacking a member of our family. It turned out that was not the case."

Nascar had previously said that a crew member had found the noose, leading to Nascar security being contacted. Phelps had told reporters that only a few racing personnel would have had access to the garage amid tight security and restrictions imposed by the novel coronavirus, and that any suggestion that the incident had been faked "is something that personally offends me." Wallace's team also said that neither he nor his crew had any involvement with the rope's presence.

Phelps, on Tuesday, was adamant that Wallace and his team "had nothing to do with this." The evidence was "very clear," he said, that the noose found in the garage had been there since at least October, the last time a Nascar race took place at the track.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-says-noose-found-in-bubba-wallaces-garage-wasnt-a-hate-crime-11592950651