NASCAR releases image of 'noose' found in Bubba Wallace's garage, fuels EVEN MORE online rancor

An image of the 'noose' found in Bubba Wallace's garage, which was later explained to be a garage pull rope, has been released to the media amid the sport's racial storm following a ban on confederate flags at racetracks.

Wallace was at the center of a media firestorm after reports emerged that a noose was found in his garage shortly after he had issued a plea for the confederate flag to be barred from NASCAR races.

Wallace's flag request was ultimately endorsed by NASCAR but not before a significant swell of opposition from some sections of the sport's support. Veteran driver Ray Ciccarelli also announced his upcoming retirement after stating his opposition to the confederate flag ban.

READ MORE: NASCAR racer Ciccarelli says family have been 'attacked and abused' after his rant over ban on Confederate symbols 

However, the story took a turn when NASCAR released a statement in recent days in which they explained that the noose – which is the literal definition for that type of knot – was in fact a 'rope pull' used to open and close garage doors and it had been present in that particular garage for several months before it was noted by a member of Wallace's team. 

An image of the knot has since been released to the media and, as you might expect with a topic as controversial as this one, it has continued to divide the sport's fans.

On the flip side of the coin, some supporters have decried the incident as a 'hoax' in the broader context of the current political climate in the United States.

Further reports state that several other 'pull ropes' were found in NASCAR garages but Wallace's was the only such rope which had been fashioned into a noose, although NASCAR said in a statement this week that they were satisfied that Wallace wasn't the victim of a hate crime. 

Wallace himself has said that the debate over the rope and how it ended up in the garage "should not detract from the show of unity" the sport had shown in recent days, and that "we'll gladly take a little embarrassment over what the alternatives might have been."