The FBI and the US Justice Department have stepped in to investigate the discovery of a noose found hung in Bubba Wallace’s garage at the weekend during the Geico 500 at Talladega Speedway in Alabama.
Wallace, the Cup Series’ only black representative, has been a prominent voice in the recent Black Lives Matter protest movement, which is also reflected in his livery.
On Sunday a noose was discovered in his garage and considering the event was run behind closed doors, the culprit almost certainly works within the sport.
NASCAR issued a statement in which it said it would investigate and take action against for the “heinous act”.
“Late this [Sunday] afternoon, NASCAR was made aware that a noose was found in the garage stall of the 43 team.
“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.”
It has now been confirmed the FBI and the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division have stepped in to assist with the investigation.
“First thing was to launch an immediate investigation into this heinous act,” explained NASCAR president Steve Phelps. “As part of that, we this morning at 7:30 notified the Birmingham office of the FBI. They are currently on‑site. They’ve started their investigation.
“We are, as I said, in the early stages of this. We will continue to keep the media informed as we learn more. Obviously this is a very, very serious act. We take it as such. We will do everything in our power to make sure that whoever has committed this act comes to justice and comes to light and we rid this type of behaviour from our sport.”
Asked if a security break was to blame, Phelps added: “I can’t say no for certain. The security around getting into the footprint is significant. As I’m sure you guys are aware, we have limited it just to essential personnel. Security is very tight getting in and out of the footprint. I can’t speculate whether there would be a breach or not.
“We’re not going to get into the specifics about the number of cameras, what is on the cameras, how many. We will collect all that information. It will be obviously part of what the FBI is looking at. Again, as details become available that we can share, we will share. But too early to get into specifics around video usage or what we were able to capture on video.”
