There’s a reason why NASCAR didn’t provide any photos or videos of the “noose” found hanging in Bubba Wallace‘s garage at Talladega on Sunday.
Wallace, a 26-year-old, clean-cut, biracial driver from Alabama, was reportedly targeted by a racist who objected to his demand that all Confederate flags be banned from NASCAR events.
As a driver, Wallace has not won a race in 220 attempts. But his Black Lives Matter activism thrust him into the headlines.
On Monday, it was announced that a noose was found hanging in Wallace’s garage at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Sunday.
LeBron James and Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton were among those expressing their outrage.
The “noose” turned out to be a garage door pull-down rope. All NASCAR garage doors have them.
Many are asking why NASCAR made the announcement before doing any investigating.
Look no further than the empty stands for the answer.
The stands have been empty for years — ever since NASCAR changed its own rules to make every stock car driver equal.
At Monday’s Talladega race, there were more drivers and crew members than people in the stands. NASCAR reportedly paints the seats multi colors to simulate fans in the stands at every race (see below).
The auto racing company lost big money sponsors as a result of the lack of fan support.
When Wallace painted his car with the Black Lives Matter insignia at a racing event last month, his car was unsponsored.
Wallace lost his only sponsor — Blue-Emu muscle pain cream — when he threw a “rage-quitting” tantrum midstream during an eNASCAR virtual iRacing series in April.
“That’s it. That’s why I don’t take this shit serious,” Wallace said before disconnecting in anger.
Afterwards, Wallace took to Twitter to laugh at the fan backlash to his rage-quitting.
That’s when sponsor Blue-Emu tweeted, “[Good to know] where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We’re interested in drivers, not quitters.”
Bubba OUT. @ClintBowyer #NASCAR #ProInvitationalSeries pic.twitter.com/Oq7ggLBPi6
— Davin (@DriveThrough_) April 5, 2020
Bahaha I'm dying at my mentions right now…
I ruined so many peoples day by quiting..a video game..
Bahaha. A video game. Damn quarantine life is rough???
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) April 5, 2020
GTK where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We're interested in drivers, not quitters.
— Blue-Emu (@BlueEmu1) April 5, 2020