DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — (AP) — Bubba Wallace said he "couldn't care less" if Donald Trump attends the Daytona 500 on Sunday, nearly five years after the president accused the NASCAR Cup Series' only Black full-time driver of perpetrating " a hoax " when a crew member found a noose in the team garage stall.
Trump suggested in July 2020 that Wallace should apologize after the sport rallied around him following the discovery of the noose in his assigned stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Federal authorities ruled that the noose had been hanging since October and was not a hate crime. NASCAR and the FBI have referred exclusively to the rope — which was used to pull the garage door closed — as a noose.
Wallace, who drives for the 23XI Racing team owned by Michael Jordan and driver Denny Hamlin, declined to say much about the possibility that Trump could return to NASCAR's biggest race as a sitting president for the second time.
“We're here to race,” Wallace said at the Daytona 500 media day. “Not for the show.”
A notice from the Federal Aviation Administration posted Monday indicated that Trump was expected to attend the race, but NASCAR said Wednesday it had gotten no confirmation.
Trump, who has chimed in through the years on several intertwined NASCAR and political issues, went after Wallace in 2020 on social media after the noose was found.
"Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX?," he wrote in July 2020.
Wallace responded on social media in 2020 to Trump calling him out, writing, "Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE!... Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it's HATE from the POTUS. "
Trump served as grand marshal for the 2020 Daytona 500 and gave the command for drivers to start their engines. He also took a parade lap around the 2 1/2-mile speedway in his armored limousine, leading the 40-car field before the green flag. The presidential motorcade remained on the apron in the corners instead of taking to the high-banked turns.
Thousands cheered and a band played patriotic music when Air Force One flew over the famed track, a flyover that was simultaneously shown on big screens. Trump’s presence energized fans and caused huge headaches because of logistical issues at entrance points.
Trump, with first lady Melania Trump by his side, addressed the crowd before the race and called the Daytona 500 “a legendary display of roaring engines, soaring spirits and the American skill, speed and power that we’ve been hearing about for so many years."
Trump made history last Sunday as the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl. He watched the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs from a suite after flying in with a group of some of his closest Republican allies in Congress, including Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott of South Carolina.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing