Its been an emotional 24 hours for Bubba Wallace. Hell, it’s been a wild last month for the lone black driver in the sport.

But, things took a turn for the worse on Sunday at the Talladega Superspeedway. A noose was found by a Richard Petty Motorsports team member in Wallace’s garage stall. All of the progress that NASCAR made in this fight against racial injustice was all for not.

Then, a sense of community and acceptence happened on Monday.

• 

His team owner Richard Petty showed up at the track for the first time since the COVID-19 break. NASCAR’s President Steve Phelps held a press conference saying that he’s offended by the act and that they turned the investigation over to the FBI for a swift and soon to be harsh punishment.

Then, all 39 of Wallace’s peers walked out to pit lane prior to the rain delayed GEICO 500 and pushed Wallace and his No. 43 Chevrolet to the front of the grid in a show of solidarity and support. They stood there with him through all the pre race ceremonies.

If someone had a problem with Wallace being in NASCAR, then they have a problem now with all 40 Cup drivers and literally every team member too. It was a beautiful display of emotion and perfectly scripted to show that there’s no room for racism in this sport.

Wallace, then had to race against those same 39 other drivers at his home track. He nearly won too.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough fuel and had to pit from third place under the final caution. He could only get back up to 14th when it was all said and done.

Wallace, was emotional and said this day felt like a win for him. He hopped out of his car and walked to the fence line in the tri-oval to celebrate with the fans.

This is probably the most badass moment right here,” he told FOX Sports. “It’s been tough. It’s been hell — I wouldn’t say hell. It’s just been hectic you know carrying this weight, carrying this burden. I wouldn’t really say burden either. I’m proud to stand where I’m at. Look at this, first times right here from Atlanta … That is so cool. The sport is changing.”

He then acknowledged on Sunday’s incident,

“The deal that happened yesterday. Sorry I’m not wearing my mask but I wanted to show whoever it was that you’re not going to take away my smile. I’m going to keep on going.

“I know I should have won that damn race. We ran out of gas. Just the stars didn’t align for us completely but all-in-all, we won today.

“The pre-race deal was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to witness in my life. From all the supporters from drivers to crew members — everybody here. The badass fanbase. This is truly incredible and I’m proud to be a part of this sport. Like I said earlier, I got a long way to go and we will keep on trucking. Another top-15 for us, we’ll take it and go on to Pocono.”

“Hey, I’m still smiling.”