There seems to be a lot of misinformation or speculation into what has happened in the No. 43 garage stall from what is being called a rope, pull strap, or a noose.
The Racing Insiders attended the conference calls with NASCAR and has been following this from its very beginnings. This is how we have got here.
- Following the rain-delayed race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, a crew member of the No. 43 found a piece of rope that was tied into the shape of a noose in the garage stall that the team was using for the weekend.
- That team member told his crew chief, Jerry Baxter, what he had found.
- Jerry Baxter notified NASCAR officials, and an intimidate investigation committee was formed with NASCAR’s upper management.
- NASCAR notified local authorities who in return reached out to the local FBI.
- There were a total of 15 FBI agents that reported to the race track to complete the investigation.
- NASCAR President, Steve Phelps was the person who called Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 43 car Sunday night to notify him what was found in his garage stall. Drivers did not have access inside the garage areas during race weekend at any time.
- NASCAR released a statement late Sunday night that an investigation will be starting due to what was found in the No. 43 garage stall.
- NASCAR allowed the team owner, Richard Petty to come to the race track for Bubba Wallace’s support after a request from the team.
- The next morning NASCAR allowed the No. 43 team to only inspect the car to make sure it was safe to race. Several NASCAR officials were there to make sure no adjustments were made.
- Several NASCAR drivers, fans, team owners, and celebrities took their voice to social media and created the hashtag #istandwithbubba
- During a conference call with NASCAR that The Racing Insiders were invited to, Fox Annalist Bob Pockrass questioned NASCAR if the noose could have been a pull-down strap from the garage. NASCAR replied that they were unsure if it was at the time.
- The outpour of support prior to the race was set up by drivers in the garage over a text message the morning of the race. Drivers including in the text message were Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick.
- Talladega Superspeedway requested to NASCAR to paint the #istandwithbubba in the infield prior to the race, which was granted permission.
- Pre-race ceremonies took place involving Bubba Wallace, which was organized by fellow competitors and not by NASCAR.
- Late Monday afternoon an official press release from both the FBI and NASCAR stated that the believed to be a noose was indeed a pull-down strap from garage stall No. 4.
- The confirmation happened when Fox Annalist, Bob Pockrass shared a photo on twitter of a photo he took of the No. 12 car in that same garage stall last October.
- A new photo surfaced of the garage stall, showing that the rope no longer was tied in the form of a noose at the end of it, and the rope seemed to have been either cut or replaced.
- The rope on that garage stall in the past was longer than any other garage door rope. Someone created a noose to tie up the excess of the rope. No other garage stalls had a loop or noose at the end of it, and no garage stalls had rope longer than that of the No. 43 garage stall on the door.
- NASCAR confirmed that they had removed the noose by cutting the rope once it was found.
- FBI has completed their investigation. NASCAR said they will continue to proceed with theirs to see why this rope was tied in a noose shape, to begin with.
- NASCAR later released the photo of the rope tied into a noose in the garage stall and said their investigation is complete.
