Bubba Wallace Says It’s “Wild” That People Still Bring Up The Noose Incident In His Social Media Comments

Fans just can’t get past it.

Bubba Wallace is, for better or worse, one of the more polarizing drivers in NASCAR these days. You either love him or you hate him, and like most things in our divided society, there’s really no in between for most people.

Of course a lot of the negativity stems from an incident at Talladega back in 2020, when it was reported that a noose was found in his garage stall. (Remember, this was during the George Floyd protests so racial tensions were already high at the time).

Bubba’s competitors and NASCAR family, including his team owner at the time Richard Petty, rallied behind NASCAR’s only black driver, and the FBI was brought in to investigate the incident as a hate crime. But ultimately, it was determined that the “noose” was simply a garage door pull that had been in that particular garage stall long before it was assigned to Bubba, and was present when other drivers used the stall during previous races.

Now, despite what a lot of people say about the incident, it was actually NASCAR who reported that the noose was found and not Bubba himself. I don’t believe for a second that he was using the incident to portray himself as some kind of “victim” at a time when racial tensions were already high, but after it was determined not to be a hate crime, plenty of NASCAR fans turned on Bubba and accused him of faking a hate crime.

He didn’t really help himself by continuing to insist that it was a “noose” after it was disproven, but even President Donald Trump called on Bubba to apologize for the incident – despite the fact that he wasn’t the one who reported it:

Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020

The incident has followed Bubba, who now drives for Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing Team, since it happened – and so have the boos from fans at the track. Any time Bubba’s name is brought up online, or in the replies to his posts on social media, people are quick to bring up the noose “hoax” and compare him to actor Jussie Smollett, who actually DID fake a hate crime for attention.

And during a recent interview on The Breakfast Club, a radio show hosted by DJ Envy, Charlamagne tha God, and Jess Hilarious, Bubba was asked about the incident – with the driver admitting that he’s surprised that it’s still brought up as much as it is:

“It’s still a topic of discussion to this day. It’s wild. You should see my Twitter mentions…

It’s wild that it’s still going about it.”

Bubba did set the record straight that the “noose” wasn’t targeted at him, and said it was unfortunate that him and his team were put in that situation:

“It was there before we even got there, but just the one in a million quatrillion coincidences that I had that garage stall. And in fact it was tied in a fashion like that. Could have been this small, it doesn’t matter. So it is what it is, and we’ve moved on from it.

It sucks that the sport was put in that situation, that I was put in that situation, our team was put in that situation, but we’ve learned a lot about who we are as a sport, who we are as competitors, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Unfortunately for Bubba, I have a feeling the comments aren’t going to stop any time soon.

Bubba Wallace explains how other teams responded to the removal of the Confederate flag from NASCAR races and the aftermath of him finding a noose in his garage. @iHeartRadio @BubbaWallace @breakfastclubam pic.twitter.com/Wibx88ppjc

— Power 105.1 (@Power1051) April 2, 2025