Bubba Wallace, driver of the #43 McDonald's Chevrolet, wears a "I Can't Breath - Black Lives Matter" T-shirt under his fire suit in solidarity with protesters around the world taking to the streets after the death of George Floyd on May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis, Minnesota police, stands during the national anthem prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 07, 2020 in Hampton, Georgia.

That the tears shed by NASCAR President Steve Phelps when he told Bubba about the noose, that the allegiance shown by NASCAR teams when they pushed his car to the front of pit road last Monday at Talladega, and that 82-year-old Richard “The King” Petty descending from his throne to console his young driver was for a noose that been hanging in that stall since last year.

Because NASCAR owed an apology to its extremely small number of Black drivers throughout its history, every Black person who ever worked there or attended a race, and every offended person regardless of color who had to sit in the stands passively for 72 years while Confederate flags waved at them from the racetrack grounds at NASCAR races.

Bubba Wallace, driver of the #43 Victory Junction Chevrolet, stands by his car before qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on February 29, 2020 in Fontana, California.

(Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)

But because – like his Black predecessors Wendell Scott, Willy T. Ribbs and Bill Lester – he was the only fulltime Black driver on the circuit when George Floyd died with a knee on his neck, Wallace had to lead NASCAR out of its racist past by insisting that it ban the Confederate flag forever.