Bubba Wallace might be the most talked about driver in NASCAR.
Kyle Larson is the champ, Chase Elliott is the fan favorite, Kyle Busch is the guy you love to hate, but Bubba seems to always be the name in the news.
The 28-year-old Cup Series driver is the star of a new ESPN E60 special titled Fistful of Steel-The Rise of Bubba Wallace.
Airing tonight, it chronicles everything from his childhood growing up in Alabama, to his cousin being killed by police, being the only black driver in NASCAR, and of course, the infamous the 2020 fake noose incident.
There’s no doubt that Bubba Wallace has drawn praise, and deservedly so, for being a bridge builder in NASCAR. The guy that can show young black boys and girls that they can be NASCAR drivers too. It’s great for the the growth of the sport and anyone that says otherwise is an idiot.
However, he’s also drawn ire for being such a constant political focus in the sport without ever winning a race… until last season.
He won the first Cup Series race of his career this past year, when he took the checkered flag after a rain delay caused a stoppage at Talladega. Wallace became the first Black driver to win a Cup Series race since Wendell Scott in 1963.
So why is he in the news tonight?
Well, because when ESPN teased tonight’s story on Bubba Wallace, they did so by highlighting the “noose” incident.
Not his first Cup Series win at Talladega or his performance in the sport, but that same “noose” incident that even ESPN themselves reported wasn’t a noose planted in Bubba’s garage, but rather a garage door pull rope that had been there months before (per FBI investigation).
Needless to say, Twitter went OFF on ESPN for using that angle to create more division and controversy.
Wow, What an inspiring story that never happened because it was a garage pull handle and not a noose.
— Joey Buckets (@joey_buckets3) December 14, 2021
Hey look ESPN is still pushing a debunk story from last year…
— Matt Gilliam (@Mgilliam) December 14, 2021
It’s ESPN what do we expect at this point. They can’t even put out the correct news and they are just another political station anymore. I remember when ESPN used to be great and was all about sports and reporting the truth in sports
— Chris Berg (@UndraftedBerg) December 15, 2021
WTF? It was an entirely false flag event? Confirmed by your own reporting. Man thumis network has really fallen off. 90s ESPN was the best, could watch it all day long. pic.twitter.com/cU1gP83L7y
— The Pooch (@jpucci39) December 14, 2021
ESPN now wants to talk about a garage pull that was mistaken for a noose.
It’s like nobody learned anything from Jussie Smollett. It was only last week. Really?
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) December 14, 2021
It wasn’t a noose, it was a very standard garage pull. Nice try with the race bating though ESPN. Keep up the good work and you will be just as good as CNN.
— YouB21Hooper (@YouB21Hooper) December 14, 2021
Why are you pushing this fake narrative still?
— Tommy C (@TommyCee24) December 14, 2021
Wait am I missing something? I thought this was investigated by the FBI and determined to be a hoax?
— Adam Kuhn (@IamAdamKuhn) December 14, 2021
And here’s the thing… I like Bubba Wallace. I like him a lot. Other drivers like Bubba Wallace, folks in the industry like Bubba Wallace, owners and pit crews like Bubba Wallace, a lot of NASCAR fans like Bubba Wallace.
I think there’s a lot of folks that want to see him succeed in this sport and become a quality driver… but the media isn’t doing him or the sport of NASCAR any favors when they continually focus on something that was proven to be inaccurate.
I do recommend you watch the entire documentary though… it provides a whole lot more context, backstory, and commentary than the two minute clip ESPN put front and center.
And if nothing else, NASCAR fans, and the folks on Twitter, should at least hear it from him.
