Bubba Wallace admits noose incident turned NASCAR fans against him

Bubba Wallace has opened up about the impact of NASCAR’s 2020 noose investigation, and claimed that he continues to receive negative messages from some fans because of it.

During the GEICO 500 weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, a member of Wallace’s team reported that a noose had been found in his garage stall at the track.

The day after the race an FBI investigation concluded that Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime, and that the alleged noose was a pull-down rope with a loop which had been present in the garage since 2019.

Two weeks after the GEICO 500, Donald Trump took to social media and demanded that Wallace should apologise for the investigation, which he branded as a hoax and claimed that NASCAR’s confederate flag ban had reduced ratings - a fact later disproved by Fox Sports, who stated that ratings had risen eight percent.

Wallace addresses noose controversy

Speaking during an appearance on The Breakfast Club, Wallace revealed that he continues to receive hate for the incident and reflected on the 2020 controversy.

“It was there before we got there, years before we got there,” Wallace said.

“It was just a coincidence that I had that garage. It’s wild. It’s still a topic of discussion. You should see my Twitter mentions. …It’s wild that it’s still going about it. But it was there before we even got there, and just the one in a million coincidences that I had that garage stall.

“It was tied in a fashion like that, it could have been this small, it doesn’t matter. It is what it is. We’ve moved on from it, and it sucks that the sport was put in that situation, that I was put in that situation, our team was put in that situation. But we’ve learned a lot about who we are as a sport and who we are as competitors, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Wallace also referenced NASCAR’s ban of fans flying the confederate flag and added: “I think we all came together as one, in unison, and I think that’s all you can ask for in sports. But, for the ones that didn’t necessarily want it banned, they didn’t come forward or show their displeasure. I can honestly say the sport has been way better without it.”

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