The 2020 Bubba Wallace NASCAR Talladega noose incident began when a member of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team found what appeared to be a noose in Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway. This discovery led NASCAR to initiate an investigation. Subsequently, the FBI was involved and, with the help of 15 field agents, they conducted interviews and examined video and photographic evidence. The FBI’s investigation concluded that the noose had been in the garage since at least October 2019, and was therefore not a hate crime targeted at Wallace, who is the only Black driver in the sport.
NASCAR’s investigation determined that the noose was not in place when the October 2019 race weekend began, but was created at some point during that weekend. However, they were unable to determine who tied the rope in that manner or why. Following the incident, NASCAR conducted a thorough sweep of all garage areas across their tracks, finding only one noose — the one discovered in Bubba Wallace’s garage. As a response to the incident, NASCAR committed to conducting thorough sweeps of garage areas, installing additional cameras, making necessary changes to their sanctions and code of conduct, and mandating sensitivity and unconscious bias training for all members of the industry.
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