FBI finds noose incident in NASCAR garage was a 'misunderstanding'

After much hand-wringing since the announcement that someone had placed a noose at the garage of NASCAR's only African American driver, the FBI announced that it was all a misunderstanding.

NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace decried the allegedly racist act on Sunday when it was found at his garage at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. On Tuesday, the FBI said there had been no crime committed and it was not a racial act.

The FBI said in its statement that it sent 15 agents to investigate the incident.

"The FBI learned that garage number 4, where the noose was found, was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week. The investigation also revealed evidence, including authentic video confirmed by NASCAR, that the noose found in garage number 4 was in that garage as early as October 2019," the statement read.

"Although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week," the FBI concluded.

In response to the incident, dozens of NASCAR drivers, pit crew members and others walked alongside Wallace and his car to show solidarity with him before Monday's race.

A separate statement from Wood Brothers Racing added additional information as to how the incident occurred:

"One of our employees alerted us yesterday morning that, without knowing the details of the incident, he recalled seeing a tied handle in the garage pull-down rope from last fall. We immediately alerted NASCAR and have assisted the investigation in every way possible," the statement read.

"The Wood Brothers organization is proud to stand with Bubba Wallace and the entire industry as we work to make every race fan a part of our NASCAR family," they concluded.

Wallace finished 14th in the Geico 500 NASCAR race Monday, which was won by Ryan Blaney in a photo finish.

Here's more about the noose misunderstanding:

Bubba Wallace Says He 'was hurt' Over Noose in His NASCAR Garage | The Viewwww.youtube.com