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Johnson, Harvick Behind Pre-Race Show Of Support For Wallace

Drivers wanted to do more than stand beside Wallace during the national anthemGETTY IMAGES

Jimmie Johnson "led the charge" to do something prior to yesterday's Geico 500 to show support for Bubba Wallace after a noose was found in his garage on Sunday, according to ESPN's Marty Smith. Johnson as part of an ongoing chat among NASCAR drivers indicated that he was going to "stand beside Bubba during the national anthem." Other drivers then "started to fall in line and say, 'We need to do something bigger.'" Kevin Harvick had the idea that the drivers "should push the race car in unison to the front of the field, and that they should all stand with Bubba for the national anthem." Meanwhile, Richard Petty, who owns the team Wallace drives for, flew to Talladega after Sunday's incident. Smith said, "As the sport has made its way back from COVID-19, 'The King' has not come to the race track. He's stayed away. But he actually called the team and said, 'I’m going to Talladega because the most important thing right now in my life is I need to hug my driver to ensure that he knows everyone in that organization believes in him, loves him and is standing with him.'” Smith noted, "Richard Petty’s influence in this garage is impossible to articulate" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 6/22).

STIRRING UP EMOTIONS: The AP's John Zenor writes it was a "stirring move to support Wallace at a track in the heart of the South where Confederate flags have flown for decades and were seen outside the superspeedway all weekend long by fans opposed to NASCAR's ban" (AP, 6/23). ESPN's Smith said, "It was a day that showed beautiful unity. It was a day that showed beautiful progression. ... What those drivers did was one of the most amazing moments that I have ever seen” ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 6/22). In Birmingham, Joseph Goodman writes it was a "beautiful moment and stunning to witness after the blinding hate that happened here on Sunday." There will be "other great races at Talladega Superspeedway, but there will never be another day here like this one." It has "taken so long, and it has been so painful reaching this moment for NASCAR." That is "what made that pre-race push of Wallace’s 43 car so powerful" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 6/23).

SIGN OF CHANGING TIMES: In Las Vegas, Ron Kantowski references one of the infamous moments during the Civil Rights movement, noting it was "almost as if the pit road at Talladega Superspeedway was transformed into the Edmund Pettus Bridge” during the Selma riot in ’65. The imagery was "as powerful as the engines in the race cars that were started a few minutes later" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/23). In Philadelphia, Marcus Hayes writes, "39 white men, mostly good ol' racin' boys with solid Southern roots, pushed a Black man’s car to the front of the starting line at a NASCAR race. Racing royalty throughout the sport rallied around the only African American on the circuit." Hayes: "To those good ol' boys, today, Wallace’s Black life mattered. Times, they are a-changin'" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/23).

OPPORTUNITY IN THE MOMENT: In Boston, Tara Sullivan writes NASCAR's responsiveness is "important, a sign that those in charge of the sport recognize the opportunity in this moment." What the public saw yesterday, when a track was "thick with a crowd of mask-wearing drivers and their crews, when Wallace stood for a national anthem with all of those people still at his back, that’s the message those inside the NASCAR world want so desperately for those on the outside watching it to hear" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/23). In California, Jim Alexander writes the pushback toward Wallace was "predictable, I suppose," and the scene before yesterday's rescheduled race in Alabama was "hopefully a reminder to those folks that theirs is still a minority view." Alexander: "Maybe this was a turning point" (Riverside PRESS-ENTERPRISE, 6/23). In San Diego, Bill Center writes what has happened are "signs that point to a true change in NASCAR," as "overnight, everyone in NASCAR stepped up." Center: "Finally, NASCAR gets it. There is no turning back" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/23).

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