NASCAR racer Bubba Wallace was roundly booed by fans Wednesday during his first racing track appearance following a controversial incident in which he claimed a hangman’s noose had been hung in his garage stall.
The presence of an alleged noose in Bubba’s garage stall before a NASCAR race in Talladega, Alabama became a major controversy within the sport, with most of the competing racers joining Wallace for a walk around the racetrack in solidarity with a competitor who had been allegedly targeted in a racist act. However, following a NASCAR and FBI hate crime investigation involving no less than 15 FBI agents, it was revealed that the alleged noose was no more than a garage door pull, placed in the garage months before Wallace was ever assigned the spot.
Wallace has contrasted between acknowledging the incident was a false alarm and continuing to maintain that the rope in question was a noose in various media interviews.
Wallace later failed to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race during the qualifier at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, crashing during the race.
Wallace went on to castigate another driver who he held responsible for his racetrack crash, calling Michael McDowell a “joke.”
Wallace went on to place the bumper of his racecar in front of McDowell’s garage, sending a message of some sort to his competitor.