ESPN’s Marty Smith appeared on SportsCenter on Sunday night live from Talledega. The track was the site of a racist incident in the garage area on Sunday, when Bubba Wallace, the driver of the number 43 car, found a noose in his stall.
Wallace, the mixed race son of NASCAR veteran Darryl Wallace, is the only Black full-time driver on the sport’s top circuit. He has been outspoken in recent weeks about wanting NASCAR to stand behind social justice reform initiatives and was imperative in the effort to get the sport to ban Confederate flags from tracks and grandstands.
“I feel like a fool,” Smith said as he was introduced by SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt. “I just told you, what bud? Like an hour ago? 90 minutes ago? That the sport had come so far and then we see this.”
Smith reported that a senior NASCAR official told him that an official investigation has been opened. Once the culprit is found he will be banned for life from the sport.
“The sport is in a moment where this crap, this despicable crap, there’s just no place for it,” Smith said.
“I love Talladega, Alabama. It’s my favorite place on the NASCAR tour. It’s my favorite race. I love the staff here,” Smith said angrily. “And then some…I’m about to say words i’m not allowed to say. Something like this happens IN THE GARAGE AREA? IN THE GARAGE AREA OF RICHARD PETTY’S RACE CAR?”
Talladega was a particularly contentious scene leading up to the race. A caravan of pickup trucks flying the Confederate flag clogged a lane of traffic on the interstate leading to Talladega Super Speedway. A plane towing a Confederate flag and a banner with the words “Defund NASCAR” flew over the track.”
“You’re not just hurting one or two people, whoever you are,” Smith said of the person that left the noose in Wallace’s garage stall. “You’re hurting a whole lot of people who have made the decision that it is damn sure time to go be better.”
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