By: Ashley McCubbin

Over the past couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of focus across the United States in ending racism across the board. For NASCAR, that has centered around the sport’s lone African American driver in Bubba Wallace.

While discussions have been had daily, combined with comments from fans constantly on both sides of the coin, he says it’s just another day in his life.

“The clock resets at midnight every night and we’ll go through whatever is on the schedule then and I’m just excited to get back in the race car come tomorrow,” he said.

The focus had been plentiful on Wallace following his comments against racism leading to NASCAR as a sport coming together to do a We Will Listen video, along with segments done on both the Dale Jr. Download and Ty Dillon’s Instagram feed.

RELATED: NASCAR Shares Unified Message in Stand Against Racism

However, everything hit a new high after a noose was found in the Talladega Superspeedway garage in Wallace’s stall this past weekend.

Last Sunday night, NASCAR released a statement that they, alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), were launching an investigation into possible hate crime after a noose found by a Richard Petty Motorsports crew member in Wallace’s stall at the speedway. The investigation conclusions were revealed on Tuesday afternoon by the FBI that there was no hate crime committed, and the noose had been in the garage stall since at least last October.

The sanctioning body then released a photo of the noose in the garage stall on Thursday, stating they will be conducting regular sweeps of the garage area to ensure “nothing like this happens again,” while installing additional cameras for security purposes.

RELATED: FB1 Finds No Crime Committed in Noose Found at Talladega Superspeedway

RELATED: NASCAR Completes Investigation, Releases Photo of the Noose

“Whether it was tied sometime throughout 2019, the fall race there, someone did it with whatever intent they had,” Wallace commented. “We weren’t in that garage stall at that time, so we can’t say it was directed toward me, which is good. It wasn’t directed toward me or my family. But somebody still knows how to tie a noose and whether they did it as a bad joke or not, who knows? But it was good for the public to see. It still won’t change some people’s mind of it being a hoax, but it is what it is.”

The noose wasn’t the only topic through the Talladega race weekend, either, as somebody paid for a plane to fly over the track flying the Confederate flag with the words “Defund NASCAR” following. The sanctioning body recently announced a ban on the flag at any of their events moving forward.

“It’s the right for peaceful protests,” Wallace commented. “It’s part of it. But you won’t see them inside of the race tracks where we’re having a good time with the new fans that have purchased their tickets and purchased their favorite driver’s apparel. You won’t see it flying in there. Outside, they’re just going to be making a lot of noise. It’s part of it. It’s exactly what you see on the flip side of everything going on in cities as they peacefully protest. But we won’t see cops pepper-spraying them and shooting them with rubber bullets, will you.”

Given the recent circumstances, it’s easy to understand the heightened concern surrounding Wallace, but he insists everything is fine – just he is being careful of his time on social media lately.

“I said every time you stand behind the truth, you’re always good,” he said. “I know people are going to try to knock me and bump me off the throne, the pedestal I’m on, the same pedestal that I’ve been on for 16 or 17 years now since I started. So, I’m fine with it. It’s fine. I love to get out and compete and have really good runs. It’s just motivation to go out and to have really good races.

“We’ll never shut them up. They’re afraid of themselves. They’re afraid of change. Sometimes those are the people that you can’t help throughout all the chaos in the world. Those are the ones who need the most help. But, you quickly realize they don’t give a damn about you and I don’t give a damn. About them.”

Even with the push back, Wallace has remained strong – even if unsure where he’s gotten his own personal strength from. While admitting that at times he gets pissed off or frustrated, staying focused on the path is something he’s been able to do due to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

“But, I’m probably a fool for thinking that because it’s 2020 and something else would happen, probably tomorrow, and I’ll be right back where we are,” he added. “So, yeah, you’re put on a pedestal. Athletes are put on a pedestal and there’s not a manual or a guidebook to tell you how to handle yourself off the race track or off the fields. But it’s all something you learn and you go through the trials and tribulations to grow from those incidents.

“And, I think that’s what makes you tougher throughout. The people that are sitting on the couch that have never done anything to their lives to be able to amount to something. And they’re jealous of your lifestyle. They’re just trying to throw hate and spew hate. And that’s unfortunate. But you just have to think like, you’re living in your own life. You don’t have time to worry about other people’s lives. So, you shouldn’t let them dictate how you live your life. Live life to the fullest.”

Among the recognized negatives, there’s been a lot of positives – like seeing the support of his fellow drivers, when they pushed his car to the front of the grid on Monday at Talladega and stood around him, including both Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman whom he has had run-ins with on the track.

RELATED: NASCAR Stand for Unity on Monday Still Shines Through

“it was good to see everybody out there and I appreciate the support,” he commented. “Two people that stuck out were Aric Almirola sent a nice text right before all that on Monday saying how we’re not friends and we don’t act like we are, but we’re going to stand next to each other and he’s proud to stand next to me as a brother and being human beings because he and I don’t click at all very well.

“We’ll both tell you that; and Alex Bowman coming up and saying we don’t see eye to eye on everything, but he stands by me 100 percent, something along those lines. I thought that was pretty cool. I’ve always had respect for Alex but we’ve definitely butted heads and have lost respect at times for each other, but it shows that we can all come together.

“Jimmie Johnson has been the guy at the top of the list the whole time. He texted me Tuesday after all the chaos going on to just check on me. So, it’s been good to have him in my corner there, for sure.”

RELATED: Johnson Felt “Moment of Pride” Following Emotional Pre-Race 

While there has been work done, there is certainly room for more, and Wallace says that includes getting out in the community.

“We’ve created a group of us to be leadership at NASCAR as some key drivers to be a part of how we can put action to our words that we’ve been speaking and spreading the gospel, but it’s tough right now with everything that’s going on with COVID and it sounds like lockdowns are coming back into place,” he admitted. “So, seeing people face-to-face and talking to them and telling them about NASCAR and educating them on NASCAR and how we’re making changes and how we want people to come out. It’s tough.

“So, it goes back to our great partner at World Wide Technology of being able to set up something and using technology to talk to people virtually, like we are now, to get out there and help those efforts until we can get back to a normal place to where we can in the communities and be able to raise more awareness.”