It’s been an interesting summer for NASCAR. In recent weeks, the sport not only banned the Confederate flag at all races and events, but also was the subject of an FBI investigation, this after a noose was found in Bubba Wallace’s garage.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/sports/bubba-wallace-nascar-confedera...
Fortunately, the FBI found that a hate crime did not occur. The noose had been placed in Wallace’s garage in October, long before the space was even assigned to Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR’s top series.
On June 22, NASCAR drivers stood with Wallace prior to the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It was an incredible moment of solidarity both for the drivers and for the sport.
“I feel like NASCAR, [as] a whole, I want to use the word family,” NASCAR driver John Hunter Nemechek said on The DA Show. “We are one big family. In times of adversity, in times where one driver may be struggling or may be dealing with something or may get hurt or in times of need, I feel like our NASCAR community – no matter if we like each other or not or have rivalries on the race track, we’re always there for one another. We always come together. I think you see that time and time again.”
Fans certainly saw that at Talladega. Drivers showed their support for Wallace, who became emotional by the gesture.
“At Talladega, we were one family,” Nemechek said. “We all came together and put on a tremendous impact. I definitely feel like if there’s times like that, we are one giant family that comes together in times of need.”