NASCAR drivers and crews delivered a strong message of support to the only Black driver among their ranks.
On Sunday night, a noose was found in the garage area of Bubba Wallace's team at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Wallace is the only Black driver in this NASCAR series and drove a car painted with #BlackLivesMatter at Martinsville Speedway earlier this month.
Wallace never saw the noose, but spoke out against the "despicable act of hatred" in a Sunday night statement, as did a number of his white fellow drivers. And on Monday, ahead of the Geico 500 in Talladega, every driver and crew member paraded behind Wallace to powerfully show they stood with him, with some drivers even pushing Wallace and his car down the track.
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In addition to his Black Lives Matter car, Wallace had been a strong advocate for banning Confederate flags at NASCAR races — something the series agreed to a few weeks ago. NASCAR, as well as the U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of Alabama, the FBI, and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division are all investigating how someone got the noose into the secure garage area.
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