Bubba Wallace called the last few weeks some of the most trying times of his life. He called Sunday’s heinous act in the Talladega Superspeedway garage, despicable. In a dark time for NASCAR, the sport rallied together on Monday when 39 of Wallace’s driver peers and every crew member helped push Wallace’s car to the front of the grid just prior to pre race ceremonies for the rain delayed GEICO 500.

Wallace, called that moment of the hardest things that he’s ever had to witness in his life and that he’s so proud to be part of this sport. He wants to show that whomever hung that noose in his garage stall on Sunday, that he’s not going anywhere and his peers showed that they have his back.

So, it’s fitting that if Wallace couldn’t win Monday’s race, his best friend in Ryan Blaney could. The two shared an emotional moment on pit road prior to Monday’s race and shared another one after with Blaney earning his fourth career Cup Series win in honor of Wallace and everything that his buddy has had to deal with in his life.

“Definitely a good ending to the day for sure on our end, being able to inch them out there at the line,” said Blaney following his second straight Talladega win. “But the start of the day, all the drivers on pit road pushing Bubba’s car, showing their support, it was just an honor to be a part of that.  Not only the drivers, but the crew members and the fans that were in attendance as well, NASCAR.  That’s something I think everyone will remember for a long time.

“It showed how much we support not only Darrell.  That was the main reason we were doing it, to support Darrell.  But everybody that has been oppressed not only for the past two weeks but for a long time.

“What happened yesterday was disgusting.  I don’t understand how a person or people can have that hatred in their heart for someone who just looks different than they do.  Never something I’ll understand.  It almost brought me to tears when Bubba told me yesterday what happened.  He doesn’t deserve that.  No one deserves that.

“But I think the good thing is us as a community came together, showed our support.  I know he really appreciated it.  It was the least we can do to show we’re behind him 100%.  I’m obviously going to be behind him 100%.  I have been for 15 years, I hope to make it 50 more years supporting him every step along the way.  That was definitely a special moment to be a part of before the race.”

Blaney, said he found out about the Sunday incident in Wallace’s garage when they two of them were sitting in his bus. Wallace, talked to NASCAR President Steve Phelps, then shared the news with Blaney after.

“He was obviously really emotional and hurt, really hurt by it,” Blaney said of the situation. “I just didn’t know what to say.  I couldn’t find the words to describe how I felt.  I felt a mixture of anger and sadness for him, confused how anybody could do something like this.  I just felt all these different emotions.  I know he went through a big range.

“You hate to see your buddies or anybody you love be sad and be hurting.  I tried to support him the best I could.  Gave him a big hug before he left.  I think it was just a multiple range of emotions.  Last night I was really angry.  I couldn’t fall asleep.  It’s just something that’s difficult to try to describe, but there were a lot of emotions that went into it and multiple stages of the night.

Blaney, said the win was poetic justice, but is over dealing with this in this sport.

“I think that’s how you got to handle these situations, right?  You can’t let some idiot trying to threaten somebody, you can’t let that affect you.  I think it shows how strong Bubba is to be able to when you’re hurting, saddened by it, I’m sure he’s still hurt by it, but to come together and be strong.  That’s how you got to deal with that stuff.  If you let it really eat away at you, that person wins, those people win.

“I think it’s great that everyone rose up, Bubba included, and really came together.  I don’t want it to be remembered as a terrible day or a bad day in NASCAR.  I want it to be remembered as there was an incident and we all overcame it together, showed that we were not going to take it any more, man.  I’m getting sick of this shit.  It’s not something that he should deal with.  That’s all I got to say about that.”