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A noose was found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, on Sunday, less than two weeks after Wallace, who is NASCAR's only black driver, successfully pushed the stock car racing series to ban the Confederate flag at its tracks and facilities.

"Late this afternoon, NASCAR was made aware that a noose was found in the garage stall of the 43 team. We are angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act," NASCAR said in a statement. "We have launched an immediate investigation, and will do everything we can to identify the person(s) responsible and eliminate them from the sport.

"As we have stated unequivocally, there is no place for racism in NASCAR, and this act only strengthens our resolve to make the sport open and welcoming to all."

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In an extraordinary act of solidarity with NASCAR's only Black full-time driver, dozens of drivers pushed the car belonging to Bubba Wallace to the front of the field before Monday's race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, one day after a noose was found in his garage stall.

Wallace was surrounded by all 39 other drivers in the moments before the race, and they were joined by their crews in a march down pit road as they pushed his No. 43 to the front of the line. Wallace climbed out of his car and wept.

The idea for the gesture came up earlier Monday. Jimmie Johnson said in a drivers chat that he would stand with Wallace during the national anthem. Then, Kevin Harvick had the idea that they should have the drivers push Wallace's car to the front

Standing alongside Wallace for the national anthem was Richard Petty, the 82-year-old Hall of Fame driver known as "The King.'' Wallace drives the No. 43 Chevrolet for Petty, who issued a scathing rebuke after the noose was found that called for the "sick person'' to be expelled from NASCAR forever -- a move NASCAR president Steve Phelps insisted would happen should they be caught.

Sources told ESPN's Marty Smith that Petty decided to travel to Talladega after the noose was found and that he said the "most important thing for me right now is hugging my driver." This marks the first race Petty has attended since the sport was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Following an investigation, the FBI concluded that the noose found in Bubba Wallace's No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday was not a federal crime, the U.S. attorney and FBI announced Tuesday afternoon.

"On Monday, fifteen FBI special agents conducted numerous interviews regarding the situation at Talladega Superspeedway," the joint statement from U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr. "After a thorough review of the facts and evidence surrounding this event, we have concluded that no federal crime was committed.

"The FBI learned that garage number 4, where the noose was found, was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week. The investigation also revealed evidence, including authentic video confirmed by NASCAR, that the noose found in garage number 4 was in that garage as early as October 2019. Although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week.

The decision not to pursue federal charges is proper after reviewing all available facts and all applicable federal laws. We offer our thanks to NASCAR, Mr. Wallace, and everyone who cooperated with this investigation.”

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Originally posted by pianojuggler:
Why has there been a noose in garage number 4 for at least several months?

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Originally posted by wtg:
It was a garage door pull. Just a loop used as a handle.

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During a teleconference call Thursday about NASCAR's internal findings, the stock car racing association's president, Steve Phelps, said: "Upon learning of and seeing the noose, our initial reaction was to protect our driver. We're living in a highly charged and emotional time. What we saw was a symbol of hate and was only present in one area of the garage and that was of the 43 car of Bubba Wallace."

Phelps said that after the discovery Sunday of the noose the garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, officials asked every racetrack to walk through their respective garages.

"Across the 1,684 garage stalls at 29 tracks, NASCAR found only 11 total that had a pull-down rope tied in a knot and only one noose — the one discovered Sunday in the No. 43 garage stall," Phelps said.

The FBI investigation determined that the noose had been in Cup Series garage stall No. 4 — which had been assigned to the Petty No. 43 team last weekend — since at least last October and that no federal charges would be pursued, Phelps said.

He said that Wallace and the 43 team had nothing to do with it.

"Bubba Wallace has done nothing but represent this sport with courage, class and dignity," Phelps said.

The day after the FBI released its findings, Wallace said on the "TODAY" show that he was relieved but frustrated by the reaction to the investigation's conclusions.

"I was relieved just like many others to know that it wasn't targeted towards me," Wallace said on the show Wednesday. "But it's still frustrating to know that people are always going to test you and always just going to try and debunk you and that’s what I'm trying to wrap my head around now."

He said that some people were wrongly suggesting that he was the person who found and reported the noose, when in fact that was not the case. He also emphasized that the rope was fashioned like a noose. The image of it "makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up," he said.

Wallace has said that the noose was first reported to him by the NASCAR president.

The noose was found less than two weeks after NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its races and properties on June 10, saying it was "contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry."