Megan Rapinoe questions veracity of FBI's investigation into Bubba Wallace noose incident

Women's Ballon d'Or holder Megan Rapinoe still has her doubts about the latest Bubba Wallace FBI investigation. Earlier this week, the FBI released its findings of the Bubba Wallace noose incident which determined that the 26-year-old NASCAR racer was not a victim of a hate crime. The federal authority said the noose in Bubba Wallace's No. 43 garage was hanging at the same place since October 2019. 

Also Read | Bubba Wallace Highlights NASCAR's Unity After Noose Incident Proven To Not Be A Hate Crime

Megan Rapinoe unsure about Bubba Wallace noose investigation

Despite the Bubba Wallace FBI investigation determining the Bubba Wallace noose was, in fact, a garage door pull-rope, US Women's National Team star Megan Rapinoe is still questioning the reason behind the rope fashioned into a noose in the first place. Megan Rapinoe suggested that the rope was tied into a noose for an explicit purpose, whether it was meant for Bubba Wallace or not. 

Also Read | Bubba Wallace Noose Photos Confirm It Was Real; Racer Warns Of Photoshopped Images

Bubba Wallace garage rope photo released by NASCAR

The Bubba Wallace noose photo was released by NASCAR, which confirmed that the garage door pull-rope was fashioned into a noose. While the rope had been hanging at the No. 4 garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway since October last year, NASCAR said the fear that could well have been a racist attack against Bubba Wallace was real for the racer as well as the stock racing company. "As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba," Steve Phelps said in an official statement released by NASCAR. "With similar emotion, others across our industry and our media stood up to defend the NASCAR family. Our NASCAR family. Because they are part of the NASCAR family, too. We are proud to see so many stand up for what’s right.”

Also Read | What Happened To Bubba Wallace Noose Incident? Bubba Wallace Garage Rope Photo

The statement further noted that since the incident last Saturday, NASCAR officials checked each and every garage stall at Talladega for a similar rope. The statement mentions that across 1,684 garage stalls at 29 tracks at Talladega Superspeedway, only 11 stalls had a pull-down rope tied, out of which only one was fashioned into a noose - the one which was found in the No. 43 garage stall. 

Bubba Wallace was himself convinced that the rope in his stall was a noose, despite the investigation suggesting otherwise. However, the NASCAR confirmed via a social media statement that he was "relieved" the investigation revealed it wasn't a hate crime, as initially feared. “I want to thank my team, NASCAR and the FBI for acting swiftly and treating this as a real threat. I think we’ll gladly take a little embarrassment over what the alternatives could have been," Wallace said in his statement. 

Also Read | Bubba Wallace Noose Photo Was Real, NASCAR Releases Bubba Wallace Garage Rope Photo

(Image Credits: Bubba Wallace Instagram Handle, Megan Rapinoe Twitter Handle)