discovered Sunday by a crew member in Wallace’s No. 43 garage stall.NASCAR moved quickly and by Monday, FBI agents were at the track.
On Tuesday, authorities said the rope had been hanging there since last fall and thus was not a hate crime targeting the 26-year-old Wallace.
U.S. Attorney Jay Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. said “nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned” to that same stall.
Wallace never saw the rope. He said Phelps came to see him Sunday night at the track with “tears running down his face.” He also told CNN: “ It was a noose.