NASCAR went to Talladega Superspeedway on heightened alert after Bubba Wallace, its only black driver, took on an active role in a push for racial equality.

Wallace had successfully called for the ban of the Confederate flag and received threats. “Fans” paraded past the main entrance of the Alabama track displaying the flag, and a plane circled above the speedway towing a Confederate flag banner that read: “Defund Nascar.”

Nascar moved quickly when one of Wallace’s crew members discovered a rope that resembled a noose in their garage stall. The sanctioning body called in federal authorities, who ruled on Tuesday that it had been hanging there since at least October and was not part of a hate crime.