

"I try to say to him, 'Don't get your motivation trying to prove haters wrong. That's all you can really say about it," said Denny Hamlin, Wallace's team co-owner and a fellow driver. When Monday's race was halted with Wallace as the leader, social media was ablaze with comments attacking the 27-year-old Alabama native whose birthday is later this week. Although Wallace never saw the noose and was only told about it by NASCAR president Steve Phelps after the FBI had been summoned to investigate, he has been accused by many in the public of orchestrating a hoax. Wallace has called the noose incident a low point, and he has been subjected to online harassment that last year even included a tweet from then-President Donald Trump that falsely accused Wallace of making up the noose. The convoy was back this weekend and included one car pulling a trailer that contained a Civil War-era cannon. The flag ban continues to be an issue at Talladega, where a convoy of vehicles has paraded up and down Speedway Boulevard outside the main entrance of the speedway during all four race weekends since NASCAR announced the ban.
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Still, the series rallied around him and stood in solidarity with Wallace at the front of the grid before the race. The FBI investigated and found that the noose was tied at the end of the garage door pull and had been there for months, meaning Wallace was not a victim of a hate crime. The finding came just a week after NASCAR had banned the Confederate flag at its events at Wallace's urging. In June 2020 at Talladega, NASCAR discovered a noose in the garage stall assigned to Wallace. I appreciate all those who were there doing the rain dance with us, pulling for us, supporting me my whole career, but especially those who have supported me with everything that's gone on the last 15-16 months." "Everybody says as long as they're making noise that's fine, but you know, I get booed for different reasons, and that's the tough thing to swallow.

"It's definitely been tough going to some of the tracks this year, we get some of the most boos now," Wallace said. Glad I was a witness."Īs much as Wallace wanted the moment to be solely about his first career win, he couldn't ignore its significance in a predominantly white sport with deep Southern roots and a longtime embrace of Confederate symbols. Your win moves the needle forward on so many fronts. "So proud of you and what you've accomplished. "Finally, it's official, you've done it!" Lester posted.
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Wallace's victory garnered praise from a range of voices on social media, including Bill Lester, a Black driver who raced intermittently in NASCAR from 1999 through a Truck series start this season. Congratulations A second post showed his grandfather leaning against a car and read: "PaPa was there the whole time chilling in the rain." "You can't swim standing on the Bank!!" tweeted Warrick Scott Sr., who is Scott's grandson. NASCAR at last presented Scott's family with his trophy from that race two months ago.

Wallace is the first Black driver to win at the top level of the elite stock car series since Wendell Scott in 1963, a race in which he wasn't declared the victor until long after Buck Baker had already been awarded the trophy. This was so much more than just a first win. "I'm just like, 'Finally, I'm a winner and I'm a winner in the Cup level,' and it's just like 'Hell yeah!' It was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders." "Got some credibility to my name now," said Wallace, a first-time Cup winner in his 143 starts. With a crowd gathered behind his pit stand chanting its support - one man told his 6-year-old son, clad in a Wallace shirt and jumping up and down along the fence, that he was "witnessing history" - NASCAR pulled the plug and Wallace became just the second Black driver to win a race at the Cup Series level. The challenge was the 45 minutes after Wallace took the lead, when the sky opened and he anxiously sat in the rain - hoping, wishing, praying - that NASCAR would call off Monday's rescheduled race and declare him the winner. That was just instinct for Bubba Wallace. The hard part wasn't dodging his way around a crash and then driving to the front of the field at Talladega Superspeedway.
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You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserīubba Wallace wins at Talladega, becomes second Black driver to win NASCAR Cup race
