(Reuters) – NASCAR has stepped up security around Bubba Wallace for the rain-delayed Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway yesterday after a noose was found in the driver’s garage.
The only Black driver in NASCAR’s top series and a vocal supporter of Black Lives Matter, Wallace was the target of a racial attack on Sunday when a noose, a symbol connected to lynching and America’s slave history, was left in his team stall.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps vowed to use all available resources to uncover the identity of the person responsible for the racist attack and have them banned from the sport for life.
Wallace was also one of the loudest voices in the push to have NASCAR remove the Confederate flag from its tracks.
NASCAR was among the top-three trending topics on Twitter in the U.S. yesterday, with supporters of Wallace using the hashtag #IStandWithBubba.