All The NASCAR Drivers Pushing Bubba Wallace’s Car To The Front In Response To The Noose In His Garage Is A Real Powerful Moment

https://twitter.com/odsteve/status/1275137783477219329

Bubba Wallace was emotional as fellow NASCAR drivers and crew members helped push his car.

Powerful.

(via @NASCARONFOX) pic.twitter.com/id2Z5hiMoV

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) June 22, 2020

I fully admit that, up until recent weeks, I hadn’t thought much about NASCAR. It’s a sport during COVID quarantine so that’s resulted in more attention from me, and many others, its way. But I, probably like many, had viewed the sport as having some problematic roots. I’ve had friends of color who’ve gone to races who had uncomfortable racial interactions. I’ve seen the Confederate flags and intertwined Southern heritage. Whether it was fair or not, I judged the sport from afar as many other “coastal” types like myself who grew up in NYC and now lives in LA.

But I have to say that since Black Lives Matter became a national cause, I’ve been very impressed with the sport and its drivers. This showing of support before the rescheduled Geico 500 at Talladega is a good example of why.

Bubba Wallace, who dealt yesterday with a noose left in his garage by an unknown party, is an easy figure to root for as the sport’s lone Black driver. But guys like Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott and many of these other guys have chimed in just as aggressively in support of Black NASCAR fans and fellow Americans. It may not be what guys like Ray Ciccarelli want to see but I think it’s powerful to see all of these guys come together in the name of what’s right rather than what’s convenient.

And this response to the outright bullshit that is someone leaving a noose in the garage of a Black NASCAR driver is really something cool to see. I don’t know that all of my suppositions about the sport and its fans historically were wrong. But I know they’re really trying to make things better, even if that alienates a portion of their audience who’ll get butthurt over all this.

Bubba Wallace is one of their own. And it seems like all of the drivers and crews, besides whatever coward left the noose yesterday, are aligned in standing behind him as he deals with the kind of crap that white drivers would never face.

There’s so much in 2020 that can kill any sense of optimism and hope you have for the world. But this small gesture by these drivers and their crews shows a lot. We can be better if we just have each other’s backs. NASCAR has shown that better than many other walks of life out there.

Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for more great Awesemo content.