Last month, NASCAR released an image of the noose found in Wallace's garage after the FBI determined that no federal hate crime had been committed in the incident.
According to NASCAR's statement, after the noose allegation was announced, they asked tracks to sweep their garages from anything similar. Out of 1,684 garage stalls at 29 tracks, 11 had pull-down ropes tied into a knot, and only the one at Talladega was tied into a noose.
"As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba," NASCAR President Steve Phelps said. "With similar emotion, others across our industry and our media stood up to defend the NASCAR family — our NASCAR family — because they are part of the NASCAR family too. We were proud to see so many stand up for what's right."
Phelps also said that Wallace and his team "had nothing to do" with the noose incident.
"Bubba has done nothing but represent this sport with courage, class, and dignity and he stood tall for what he believes in," he continued. "And we all need to stand with him. I know I’m going to.”
After the FBI released their findings, Wallace thanked them for the "swift" investigation.
"I think we'll gladly take a little embarrassment over what the alternatives could have been," Wallace said. "Make no mistake, though some will try, this should not detract from the show of unity we had on Monday, and the progress we've made as a sport to be a more welcoming environment for all."
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