In Trying To Generate Playoff Drama, NASCAR ‘Rigged’ Its Championship
NASCAR has dramatically altered its product in the hopes of retaining fan interest, but it has to live with the consequences of the changes it has wrought.NASCAR has dramatically altered its product in the hopes of retaining fan interest, but it has to live with the consequences of the changes it has wrought.Bubba Wallace gets one-race suspension after crash that NASCAR COO described as 'intentional'
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace has been slapped with a one-race suspension after running into Kyle Larson's car during a race on Sunday. After both men had exited their cars, Wallace approached and repeatedly shoved Larson.
Video footage of the episode shows Wallace's car hit the wall after apparently being squeezed by Larson — Wallace's car then appears to bump into Larson's car, which moves away, before Wallace's car comes up from behind and hits Larson's car. Larson's car then clips Christopher Bell's car — all three racers were unable to continue, according to NASCAR.com.
Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace FIGHT after wreck at Las Vegas | NASCAR ON FOX HIGHLIGHTS www.youtube.com
When asked whether he had engaged in retaliation, Wallace said that his "steering was gone" after he was pushed into the fence.
But during remarks on SiriusXM radio, NASCAR COO Steve O'Donnell noted that the incident is thought to have been "intentional" — O'Donnell characterized NASCAR's actions as "specific to what took place on the racetrack."
\u201c\ud83d\udcad "When we look at this incident, you're not only endangering one, but there's a lot of cars out there at speed..."\n\n\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f #NASCAR COO Steve O'Donnell joined #SXMSpeedway and explained the one race suspension handed down to Bubba Wallace following his actions @LVMotorSpeedway.\u201d— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90)) 1666129674
"I want to apologize for my actions on Sunday following the on-track incident with Kyle Larson and the No. 5 car," Wallace said in a statement on Monday. "My behavior does not align with the core values that are shared by 23XI racing and our partners, who have played a crucial role in my incredible journey to the top of this great sport."
"I want to apologize to NASCAR and the fans, along with Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Toyota for putting them in a situation in the Playoffs that they do not deserve," he continued. "I compete with immense passion, and with passion at times comes frustration. Upon reflecting, I should have represented our partners and core team values better than I did by letting my frustrations follow me outside of the car. You live and learn, and I intend to learn from this."
\u201cReflection.\u201d— Bubba Wallace (@Bubba Wallace) 1666049422
ESPN tweets that 'noose was found in Bubba Wallace's stall' last year, leaves out that 'garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose' wasn't hate crime or directed at him
ESPN has been called out as a misinformation merchant after posting a tweet Tuesday about last year's "noose" controversy involving black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace.
Here's the tweet:
Last year, a noose was found in Bubba Wallace's stall at Talladega Superspeedway. The next day, the NASCAR community stood with him in unity.\n\n"I was like, 'Holy s---, it's the whole garage.' ... That's when I lost it."pic.twitter.com/Zh5HWumagX— ESPN (@ESPN) 1639517236
"Last year, a noose was found in Bubba Wallace's stall at Talladega Superspeedway," the tweet reads. "The next day, the NASCAR community stood with him in unity."
The tweet — which promotes an E60 "Fistful of Steel" documentary on Wallace — adds a quote from the driver featured in a documentary trailer also seen in the tweet: "I was like, 'Holy s***, it's the whole garage' ... That's when I lost it."
The trailer shows many NASCAR drivers pushing his car down the track in solidarity with him as well as Wallace's emotional reaction to the gesture by fellow drivers at the time.
What's the problem?
The language employed in the EPSN tweet isn't necessarily inaccurate. The FBI's statement about the incident refers to the object discovered in Wallace's stall a "noose" — and does so three times.
But that's not all the agency said, either.
"The FBI learned that garage number 4, where the noose was found, was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week," the agency said in a June 23, 2020 statement. "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. 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."
In other words, the "noose" was in the garage well before Wallace raced at Talladega last year and wasn't meant for him. The FBI also "concluded that no federal crime was committed."
NASCAR said in a statement — found in ESPN's piece on last year's incident titled, "FBI says rope had been in Talladega garage since October; Bubba Wallace not victim of hate crime" — that "the garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose had been positioned there since as early as last fall."
.@NASCAR has released a photo of the garage door pull fashioned as a noose that was found in the No. 43 garage stall at Talladega on Sunday. https://abcn.ws/2YvCkco\u00a0pic.twitter.com/YxBaXfG8Jp— Dan Linden (@Dan Linden) 1593102701
That's right: no hate crime against Wallace. But he still was angry about what he saw, even if it wasn't meant for him.
"It was a noose that, whether tied in 2019 or whatever, it was a noose," Wallace told CNN's Don Lemon at the time. "So, it wasn't directed at me, but somebody tied a noose, that's what I am saying."
What the ESPN tweet leaves out
Thing is, ESPN's tweet in question makes no mention of Wallace not being targeted in the incident, neither does it note that the "noose" didn't equate to a hate crime.
And ESPN has been dragged through the mire since the post went up. In fact, the responses to the tweet from the sports network have skyrocketed: Over 13,000 comments compared to just 2,400 likes as of Wednesday afternoon.
What have observers been saying?
Some Twitter users also caught the fact that ESPN's tweet left out important information, among them Donald Trump Jr., who told the sports network in part, "... you’re still pretending it was a hate crime to sow division? What’s next the ESPN True Hollywood story of the MAGA attack on Jussie Smollett?"
Others agreed:
- "They literally still think it’s a hate crime," another commenter said.
- Another user called the Wallace story "fake outrage" and asked "... why is this 'hate crime' story still being peddled?"
- "According to @espn, @BubbaWallace was not the victim of a hate crime," another commenter noted.
- "Hi @Twitter@TwitterSafety, can we please get @espn suspended for spreading misinformation?" another user asked. "That seems like a service y'all provide regularly. Thanks."
Fox News said ESPN did not immediately respond to its request for comment on its controversial tweet.
Whitlock: How the Associated Press, NASCAR, Bubba Wallace, Jenna Fryer, and the descendants of Wendell Scott benefit from race fake news
Jenna Fryer, the Associated Press' motorsports writer, desperately wants Bubba Wallace to be the second coming of Wendell Scott, the first black driver to win a NASCAR race.
So do many of the descendants of Scott, the primary benefactors of the Wendell Scott Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established to commemorate Scott's legacy and employ Scott's descendants.
Yesterday, in reaction to my column exploring corporate media's obsession with pretending Wallace faces 1950s-style anti-black bigotry, Fryer and Warrick Scott Sr., a grandson of the deceased driver, criticized my column over social media.
In a since-deleted tweet, Fryer called my opinion piece a "literal hot take." She then claimed I was unqualified to write it because I've never personally interviewed Bubba Wallace and because she's "seen Bubba Wallace need security, seen convoys of Confederate flags, heard the deafening boos."
Warrick Scott, the founder of the Wendell Scott Foundation, called me a clown in one tweet and challenged me to talk face to face in another one.
"You are the first black man that I have ever known to disrespect and disregard my grandfather's legacy in such a manner. Instead of me ripping you to pieces on Twitter, how about a face to face opportunity to discuss," Warrick wrote.
I have extended Warrick Scott an invitation to discuss the matter on "Fearless with Jason Whitlock." But I'd like for Warrick, Fryer, and everyone to read this follow-up column restating and clarifying my point of view on Bubba, Wendell, and corporate media's obsession with transporting blacks to the future, aka pretending that 2021 America is really no different from 1961 America.
This false narrative is pushed for profit and harms modern race relations. The false narrative relies on an intentional, blatant distortion of fact, truth, and reality. Jenna Fryer, Bubba Wallace, and Warrick Scott all financially benefit from the promotion of the false narrative that Wallace is racing in an environment similar to the one Wendell Scott competed in 60 years ago.
Let me take a moment and establish some context.
The Associated Press is America's primary news source and the world's foundational source for news about the United States. The AP presents America to the rest of the planet. It is the most powerful news source. It's a hundred times more influential than Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. The AP dwarfs the New York Times' impact and influence. All those news sources rely on the AP's content.
Although unknown, Jenna Fryer determines how the world views Bubba Wallace, NASCAR, and America's race fans. Her work is the foundation for all other news sources. ESPN ran her story on Wallace at the top of its website.
Fryer and the AP decided to wrap Wallace's rain-shortened victory in the YellaWood 500 in a racial narrative. They decided to present it as a historic moment.
These narratives are chosen by the media, by TV networks, by the leagues in need of historic moments to boost ratings.
As I wrote yesterday, Wendell Scott got his chance to race on the Dixie Circuit in 1951 because a smart promoter realized the best way to attract fans to the speedway in Danville, Virginia, was to have a black driver compete against white men. Wendell's popularity on the Dixie Circuit inspired NASCAR to let him race.
America has changed for the better. The country is far less racist than it was in the 1950s and 1960s. The American media has not changed for the better. The media is far more sinister, subversive, and clandestine with its racism than it was 60 years ago. Corporate media is the wolf in a black female sheep's clothing.
Let's examine how the AP and Jenna Fryer handled Wendell Scott's narrative and Bubba Wallace's. Fryer and her editors intentionally chose to present Scott's 1963 victory in Jacksonville and Wallace's victory on Monday in the most racially polarizing and divisive way.
Fryer's Tuesday story included this paragraph:
"Wallace is the first black driver to win at the top level of the elite stock car series since Wendell Scott in 1963, a race in which he wasn't declared the victor until long after Buck Baker had already been awarded the trophy. NASCAR at last presented Scott's family with his trophy from that race two months ago."
The paragraph clearly insinuates that NASCAR waited 57 years to recognize Scott as the winner of the race. It's an intentional distortion. It's a white (liberal) lie used to trigger people emotionally.
Here's the truth from a Jacksonville newspaper story published in 2010.
"It took two hours — long after the fans left the Jacksonville track — before NASCAR upheld a protest by Scott. Racing rival Buck Baker originally was declared the winner. He took the checkered flag. NASCAR then pored through its hand-written scorecards and agreed that Scott actually drove two extra laps. Official records now show him two laps ahead of the field. Scott eventually was declared the winner and received the first-place check. He received a trophy — not the original — four weeks later before a race in Savannah, Ga."
You should read the entire article. Scott and Baker were friends. Baker sold Scott the first car Scott ever raced. At the time of Scott's victory, it was commonplace for there to be scoring discrepancies. Scott's victory wasn't a big deal because only a couple of races mattered at the time.
Fryer's Tuesday story also states that NASCAR didn't give Scott's family a trophy until two months ago. Not true. Here's the story from 2010 about the Jacksonville Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame and NASCAR presenting Scott's descendants with a trophy. It was a 45-minute ceremony.
So let's do the final tally: For his 1963 victory, Scott received the winner's paycheck, a trophy in Georgia, a trophy and ceremony in Jacksonville, and a third trophy and ceremony two months ago. He's in several halls of fame. And his grandson is employed by a foundation dedicated to promoting Scott's legacy.
Wendell Scott isn't Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion. Wendell Scott isn't Jackie Robinson, the first black Major League Baseball player, a six-time All-Star, winner of the National League MVP Award in 1949, a World Series champion in 1955. Wendell Scott isn't Althea Gibson, the first black Wimbledon tennis champion. Wendell Scott isn't George Coleman Poage, the first black American to win an Olympic medal.
I'm not trying to denigrate Wendell Scott. From everything I've read and learned about him, he was a man without ego, an extremely hard worker, someone his family and peers respected. He got his start in racing as a promotional tool for the Dixie Circuit and later NASCAR.
Bubba Wallace is the new promotional tool. Like Scott, Bubba isn't Tiger Woods, or Michael Jordan, or Muhammad Ali. He's not better than his competitors. In order to make him appear better, the Associated Press has to create the appearance that he's overcoming the KKK, the Proud Boys, Trump supporters, and all the descendants of Jefferson Davis.
Fryer wrote this morning about the garage door rope knot that Wallace never saw. She complained that people on Twitter sent Wallace mean tweets. She lamented the fact that some race fans boo Wallace.
Booing, tweets, and garage door ropes are the equivalent of cross burnings, lynchings, and fire hoses.
It's fake news. It's stirring racial animus for profit. Everybody wins. Jenna Fryer, Warrick Scott, Bubba Wallace, NASCAR, the Associated Press, and America's adversaries.Whitlock: NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace stars in corporate media’s new movie, ‘Half-Black to the Future’
If they ever make a movie about NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, it should be called "Greased Lying." It would be the perfect follow-up to the 1977 biopic "Greased Lightning," which dramatized the life and times of Wendell Scott, the first allegedly black race car driver to win a NASCAR event.
According to corporate media, Bubba Wallace made history yesterday when NASCAR officials canceled the final 71 laps of a race at Talladega Superspeedway because of rain. Wallace, while sitting in his pit hoping the race would be called, became the second ambiguously black man to win at the highest level of stock-car racing.
This momentous occasion was documented by the Associated Press, the New York Times, and ESPN as if it were the equivalent of Jackie Robinson's first at-bat for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Let me quote from the Associated Press story:
"With a crowd gathered behind his pit stand chanting its support — one man told his 6-year-old son, clad in a Wallace shirt and jumping up and down along the fence, that he was witnessing history."
No. What we're all witnessing is a distortion of history. Corporate media wants us to believe Bubba Wallace is Wendell Scott and 2021 is 1963. Let me try another movie analogy. Bubba Wallace is Marty McFly starring in "Half-Black to the Future." The media believes Bubba's stock car transports him to the 1950s and 1960s, where his half-black status would make him controversial and polarizing.
It doesn't. And even if it did, Bubba would be shocked at what he found in that long-ago era of racing.
Wendell Scott was a publicity stunt. Born and raised in Danville, Virginia, Scott got his shot as a race car driver because the Danville speedway had trouble drawing crowds. A smart promoter, recognizing the popularity boost integration gave Major League Baseball, decided he needed a black driver to increase attendance and drive media attention. Scott was an infamous bootleg whiskey driver in the area and was light-skinned enough not to spark a full-on KKK rally.
Comedian Richard Pryor played the role of Scott in the movie "Greased Lightning." Comedian John C. Reilly would've been a better choice. Reilly looks like one of Scott's seven children.
Whatever. Scott started his driving career on the Dixie Circuit, a regional rival to NASCAR. Scott became the Dixie Circuit's top attraction. His white competitors initially tried to kill him on the track, ruthlessly bumping his car. But over time, his competitors came to respect him, his skill, and his courage. Southern newspapers fell in love with Scott and the racial narrative. They began writing favorable articles.
Eventually, as most capitalist organizations do, NASCAR decided to cash in on the Wendell Scott phenomenon. Bill France's organization reluctantly granted Scott a license in the mid-1950s.
In 1963, Scott won a race in Jacksonville, Florida. Track officials ruled that a white driver, Buck Baker, won the race. Two hours later, track officials determined they made a clerical error and that Scott won the race by two laps. NASCAR waited two years before officially awarding Scott the victory.
Wendell Scott faced real bigotry, discrimination, and hardship. Corporate media wants you to believe nothing has changed and that Bubba Wallace is reliving Scott's life in 2021. It's just not true. Scott raced as a gimmick on a shoestring budget. Bubba Wallace has been previously backed by the king of racing, Richard Petty, the man Wendell Scott passed to win the 1963 race. Wallace is now backed by Michael Jordan and McDonald's, arguably the two biggest brands in America.
Modern corporate media refuses to tell America's story of racial progress. Worse, it is distorting the past and trying to make it worse. Look at this excerpt from the Associated Press story on Bubba Wallace.
"Wallace is the first black driver to win at the top level of the elite stock car series since Wendell Scott in 1963, a race in which he wasn't declared the victor until long after Buck Baker had already been awarded the trophy. NASCAR at last presented Scott's family with his trophy from that race two months ago."
This is greased lying. It's an intentional misrepresentation of fact. Someone unfamiliar with Scott's history could easily conclude after reading that passage that NASCAR waited 57 years to recognize Scott's victory. NASCAR waited two hours. The organization waited two years before updating its official records.
As for the trophy presentation to Scott's family? That was just another modern-day publicity stunt done to capitalize on all of the meaningless George Floyd-inspired racial publicity stunts sanctioned by corporate America.
Pretending America is trapped in a racist "Groundhog Day" is the mainstream media's number-one grift.
Scott faced seething hostility on the race track and had a victory stolen from him. When it comes to Wallace, today's media believes that knot on a garage-door rope that Wallace never saw is the equivalent of what Scott experienced.
From the Associated Press yesterday:
"In June 2020 at Talladega, NASCAR discovered a noose in the garage stall assigned to Wallace. The finding came just a week after NASCAR banned the Confederate flag at its events at Wallace's urging."
But wait for it, the AP's next sentence renders the previous paragraph pointless.
"The FBI investigated and found that the noose was tied at the end of the garage door pull and had been there for months, meaning Wallace was not a victim of a hate crime."
The New York Times canonized Wallace yesterday by arguing his wearing of T-shirts and promotion of slogans in support of George Floyd, Eric Garner, and Black Lives Matter raised Wallace from "relative obscurity to national prominence."
The Times wrote that Wallace told the paper a year ago that he'd given little to no thought about his blackness until the Black Lives Matter movement became hyper-popular over social media.
"That changed in 2020 after (Wallace) watched the video of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was shot while jogging in a mostly white neighborhood in Georgia. Wallace said he was stirred to think more deeply about the racial dynamics of his country and his sport — and, finally, to speak out."
It's greased lying. Bubba Wallace, no different from the New York Times, the Associated Press, and ESPN, saw an opportunity to profit and benefit from the death of black men killed by white men. It's a hustle.
It's not much different from the hustle Wendell Scott agreed to sixty years ago when he joined the Dixie Circuit as its main ambiguously black attraction.Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin form new NASCAR team, sign Bubba Wallace to multiyear deal
NBA legend Michael Jordan has partnered with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin to form a new NASCAR team, and the duo has already signed Bubba Wallace to "a multiyear deal to drive for the yet-to-be named, single car team," according to a news release by the NBA.
What are the details?
"Growing up in North Carolina, my parents would take my brothers, sisters and me to races, and I've been a NASCAR fan my whole life," Jordan, who is majority owner, said in a statement. "The opportunity to own my own racing team in partnership with my friend, Denny Hamlin, and to have Bubba Wallace driving for us, is very exciting for me."
"Historically, NASCAR has struggled with diversity and there have been few Black owners," added Jordan, who is also the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets NBA franchise. "The timing seemed perfect as NASCAR is evolving and embracing social change more and more. In addition to the recent commitment and donations I have made to combat systemic racism, I see this as a chance to educate a new audience and open more opportunities for Black people in racing."
Hamlin — who is still a NASCAR driver himself — made the announcement of his partnership with Jordan on social media, saying that the team would be competing in 2021 while declaring, "Deciding on a driver was easy - it had to be Bubba Wallace."
"Bubba has shown tremendous improvement since joining the Cup Series and we believe he's ready to take his career to a higher level," Hamlin continued. "He deserves the opportunity to compete for race wins and our team will make sure he has the resources to do that."
He added, "Off the track, Bubba has been a loud voice for change in our sport and our country. MJ and I support him fully in those efforts and stand beside him."
Tonight, I’m excited to announce MJ and I are starting a new, single car @NASCAR Cup Series team for 2021. Deciding… https://t.co/tAXZcZwicd— Denny Hamlin (@Denny Hamlin)1600735852.0
In response to Hamlin's post, Wallace tweeted, "This is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I believe is a great fit for me at this point in my career. I'm grateful and humbled that they believe in me and I'm super pumped to begin this adventure with them."
What else?
NBC Sports noted that Wallace, 26, "is in his third full season in Cup," and that "all 105 of his starts in NASCAR's premier series have been with Richard Petty Motorsports."
The outlet further reported that Wallace is "the only Black driver competing full-time in any of NASCAR's top three national series," pointing out that "he has been active in helping lead NASCAR through social changes, including the banning of the Confederate flag at series events and tracks."
Wallace parted ways with Richard Petty Motorsports earlier this month, according to NPR, which reported that Jordan is "trying to make NASCAR more inclusive."
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