A NASCAR official said Wednesday the racing series would have investigated the incident where an unknown person hacked into Bubba Wallace’s radio communications, regardless of the message’s content.
Wallace, the first full-time Black competitor in NASCAR’s top series since the 1970s, had just finished second in the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway Sunday when a message came over the 23XI Racing team’s radio: “Go back to where you came from, you *******. You’re not wanted in NASCAR.”
Wallace reportedly did not hear the comment.
NASCAR immediately launched an investigation to find out who hacked the channel and how they committed the act.
NASCAR spokesman Mike Forde told the AP Wednesday that the hack is a very serious issue, even beyond the terrible message the unknown person sent.
“We certainly take that seriously, no doubt about that,” Forde said (via ESPN). “But we can’t have fans interfering with team radio and potential competition implications.”
The incident does raise a huge safety concern. Imagine someone with evil intent hacking into a team’s channel and interfering with a driver’s communication with his spotter during the race, which could cause a serious accident.
This is not the first investigation into a racist incident involving Wallace. In 2020, a noose was found tied on a garage pull cord in Wallace’s stall at Talladega Superspeedway. Investigators found that the cord had been there long before that weekend and was not targeted at Wallace.
[ESPN]
