Bubba Wallace was subjected to a possible racist incident on May 21 at the North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina during the NASCAR All-Star race.
NASCAR is investigating claims that Wallace’s radio channel was hacked and someone said a derogatory message over the radio. This is not the first time in his career that a possibly racist gesture has affected NASCAR’s only Black driver in the Cup Series. In 2020, the FBI investigated a rope knot shaped like a noose that was found in Wallace’s garage. The investigation concluded it was a door pull rope and it had been left there since as early as the previous fall.
As for the recent investigation, NASCAR says that they are taking the allegation very serious.
“We certainly take that seriously, no doubt about that,” said Nascar spokesman Mike Forde in a statement. “But we can’t have fans interfering with team radio and potential competition implications.”
What Really Happened?
Nascar is investigating who and how the radio was hacked. Someone reportedly tapped into the radio system and was heard saying, “Go back to where you came from, assh-le. You’re not wanted in NASCAR.” According to someone from Wallace’s racing team, he didn’t hear the comment during the race.
Not All Bad
Wallace’s great race was overshadowed by the incident, but he still had a second-place finish in the winner-take-all event. He shared a video on his personal Twitter account about with his reaction to the finish.
“All in all, proud of the effort,” Wallace said in his video. “It just wasn’t meant to be. Five [winning driver Kyle Larson] was lights out, and we were the best of the rest, so I guess we can be proud about that.”
This was Wallace’s third top-five finish in as many races and fourth top-10 finish this year. He currently sits in the 15th spot for the Nascar Cup series playoffs. The cutoff to qualify is 16 spots. His second place last weekend was the best finish he has had all season.
Wallace has 13 more races before the round of 16 playoffs start in August to maintain his 15th spot or move up in the standings. He is expected to compete on May 28 at the Coca-Cola 600 in Concord, North Carolina. Hopefully, he can enjoy a clean race without the distraction of a noose-looking object in his garage or someone hacking his radio.
