Nascar releases photo of pull-rope fashioned like a 'noose' in Bubba Wallace's garage
Image released following allegations of a hate crime hoax
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Your support makes all the difference.Nascar released the first photo of the pull-down rope tied with a noose-style knot on the garage assigned to Bubba Wallace ahead of the Talladega Superspeedway event on Sunday.
The pull-down rope in the number 4 garage stall since 2019 was one of 11 pull-down ropes across 1,648 garage stalls at 29 tracks, according to Nascar. It was the only one tied to look like a noose.
After the FBI's findings that the rope had been in the stall for at least eight months led to allegations of a hoax, Nascar President Steve Phelps said the photo showed the noose was real.
"As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba," Mr Phelps said during a teleconference on Thursday.
The FBI announced on Tuesday that it had been in the garage stall number 4 since as early as October 2019, while the space was assigned to the No 43 team about a week before the 2020 Cup Series race.
No federal charges would be pursued, the US Attorney Jay E Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr said in a joint statement.
Mr Wallace responded on CNN to criticisms that the whole event had been a hate crime hoax.
"This will not break me, none of the allegations of being a hoax will break me or tear me down," he said.
"It will p*** me off, absolutely. But that only fuels the competitive drive in me to shut everybody up."
He added: "It was a noose. It was a noose whether it was tied in 2019 or whatever, it was a noose. So, it wasn't directed at me but somebody tied a noose that's what I am saying. It was, it is, a noose."
Mr Phelps reiterated on Thursday that Mr Wallace and the No 43 team had no involvement on the origins of the pull rope/noose.
"Bubba Wallace and the 43 team had nothing to do with this," said Mr Phelps. "Bubba Wallace has done nothing but represent this sport with courage, class and dignity."
Mr Phelps apologised for his initial statement that said whoever committed the act would be banned for life, saying that they were living in an emotional time and that their initial reaction was to protect Mr Wallace.
"And should we have toned that message down slightly? Maybe we should have. And I'll take responsibility for that. I stand by the actions that we took and I think they were the right ones," Mr Phelps said.
He added: "In hindsight, I should have used the word 'alleged' in our statement."
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