NASCAR: Bubba Wallace denies it was a publicity stunt

NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace denied that the noose incident last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway was any kind of a publicity stunt.

After an apparent noose was found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace’s #43 Richard Petty Motorsports team at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday evening, NASCAR and Wallace both released statements about the matter.

NASCAR called the situation a “heinous act of racism” and Wallace called the situation a “despicable act of racism and hatred”.

But an FBI investigation concluded that there was no hate crime committed and that the apparently noose, which was described as “a garage pull rope fashioned like a noose”, had been there since October of 2019 when Paul Menard’s #21 Wood Brothers Racing team was in that stall.

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The FBI stated that Wallace, the lone African-American Cup Series driver, being placed in that stall was a coincidence and nobody could have predicted that he would be the one assigned that particular stall.

Wallace, who has done several interviews about the matter over the last week, spoke with Fox News’ Jesse Watters on “Watters’ World” in an interview that aired on Saturday evening after the race at Pocono Raceway.

While this incident certainly generated a ton of publicity for Wallace, given how the NASCAR community rallied behind him and how his car was pushed to the front of the field before the race and the fact that he had been in the spotlight quite a bit in recent weeks regarding racial issues, and for the sport in general given their recent actions in response to what is going on in the United States, Wallace denied that this was a publicity stunt.

“Let’s get it straight,” Wallace, who never actually saw the apparent noose before the investigation, said. “I don’t need all the fame and all the media hype to create my brand and create my image. People that know me, know I’m 100 percent raw and real and I just go out and give my all on the racetrack.”

Wallace and the rest of the Cup Series field are set to be back in action this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ET with the second race of the weekend doubleheader at Pocono Raceway. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1.