NASCAR will not hesitate to take the necessary steps in ensuring racism is kept out of the sport.
The auto racing company has been at the forefront of the sports world the past few days in wake of what took place at Talladega Superspeedway over the weekend. After an apparent noose was found in Darrell Wallace Jr.’s garage stall Sunday, both NASCAR and the FBI looked into the matter. The ultimate findings determined the rope had been in the stall since last year and Wallace, NASCAR’s only full-time Black drive, was not the target of a hate crime.
Speaking with the media Tuesday via conference call, NASCAR president Steve Phelps made it clear the same actions will be taken in the future if similarly significant evidence of a potential hate crime surfaces.
“I do want to make sure everyone understands that if given the evidence that we had was delivered to us (on Sunday), we would do the same thing,” Phelps said, as transcribed by Motorsport.com. “We would have done the same investigation. It was important for us to do. There is no place in our sport for this type of racism or hatred. It’s not part of who we are as a sport.”
Wallace himself commended NASCAR for its handling of the incident, applauding both the company’s and Phelps’ zero-tolerance policy on racism.
