Declaring “the noose was real,” NASCAR officials on Thursday released a photo of the rope found in the speedway garage stall of Black driver Bubba Wallace that prompted a federal investigation into whether he had been the target of a hate crime.
“As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said.
Out of 1,684 garage stalls at 29 tracks, only 11 had a garage door pull-down rope tied in a knot, Phelps said, and the only one fashioned in a noose was the one discovered Sunday by a crew member in Wallace’s No. 43 stall.
Phelps said NASCAR had determined the noose was not in place when the October 2019 race weekend began but was created at some point during that weekend.
NASCAR’s investigation is over, Phelps said, and cameras will be added to garages moving forward.
