Bubba Wallace got a fantastic pep talk from his crew before their race on Monday at Talladega.- During the pre-race ceremonies, Wallace was emotional, with his fellow drivers showing support for him after a noose was left in his garage stall.
- Before the race, Wallace's crew told him "Get yourself a deep breath, get your mind right. Let's go shut these haters up. Let's go to work."
Bubba Wallace had an emotional start to the day at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday.
On Sunday night, NASCAR had announced that a noose had been found in Wallace's garage stall, calling it a "heinous act" and vowing to do "everything we can to identify the person(s) responsible and eliminate them from the sport."
As the drivers prepared their cars for the pre-race ceremonies on Monday, Wallace was accompanied by his fellow drivers in a show of solidarity. Richard Petty, whose team Wallace races for, made the trip out to Alabama to see his racer and wish him well after the racist attack against him.
With emotions running high ahead of the race, Wallace needed to settle in and get ready to drive. Once he was behind the wheel, he got a nice pep talk from his team before the race took off.
"Keep yourself in a good spot," Wallace's crew could be heard saying to him. "You know I love you man, we all do. Take care of yourself out there, put us in a good spot. Get yourself a deep breath, get your mind right. Let's go shut these haters up. Let's go to work."
—NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 22, 2020
In a statement released Sunday night, Wallace said that while he has been "overwhelmed by the support" he's seen in recent weeks, Sunday's "despicable act of racism and hatred... serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism."
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