It may be a net positive that this was a misunderstanding.

This situation reveals many things about motorsports, specifically the NASCAR community. 1/

More people in the NASCAR community are becoming more sensitive to racially-charged symbols and racially insensitive situations. The fact that someone was willing to report this to NASCAR and that they went public with it instead of sweeping it under the rug is big.

NASCAR weren't going to just sweep this under the rug and pretend this situation didn't exist. They went after it with the best of intentions to protect their driver, especially in a challenging time in our country's history.

Many people have had trouble picturing a reality outside of their own existence. Social media, smartphones and the internet have narrowed the gap between the spoken word and belief. More people are becoming aware of others' experiences and are more empathetic.

However, when something does happen, more people are quick to think that there has to be another explanation or some other force at work.

They can't possibly think that people could be that mean or hateful yet all one had to do was look at the sky over Talladega to see the plane

This month, NASCAR took many steps to be more inclusive. They hired Brandon Thompson to be Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion. They banned the confederate flag from their events and even contributed items to an LGBTQ+ auction for the You Can Play foundation.

These events sparked a rage among many people, prompting many to say that they would leave the sport.

Good. Get out. NASCAR and the rest of the motorsports industry does not need you or your ilk making a mockery of an organization trying to change its values to be more positive.

Look at what Bubba Wallace did after Talladega. A large row of black people were in the front row with tickets, and if I were more of a betting man I would wager that some of those people were at their first race.

Look at how many new people started watching NASCAR after the flag of traitors was thrown away. Alvin Kamara watched Martinsville, liking what he saw and then went to Homestead to watch his first race in person.

NASCAR's fan base is changing. Not at lightning speed, but it is changing. The organization's values have changed and rightfully so. I wish those value changes would have happened years ago. The past cannot be changed, but it can affect change in how we learn from it.

So Instead of throwing around words like hoax and fake, let's instead be thankful that someone in the NASCAR community was so alert to recent events, that they were willing to bring this to somebody's attention and take the next step. They saw something, so they said something.

So let's then look at another positive. This situation was taken very seriously. Alabama's governor, Talladega's mayor and many higher-ups in motorsports took the time to issue statements. Richard Petty even went to his first race since the pandemic to show support.

Bubba Wallace received words of encouragement from the entire industry, and now some people will harass him when he wasn't even in the garage area in the first place nor did he see it. That's wrong and shameful that others would be looking to do that at a time like this.

Motorsports is a diverse environment of competition. Sports car fans have their own likes/dislikes, Indy car fans have theirs, motorcycles, Formula One, GT racing, short track, etc do so too. One form of racing looking to better itself should be an indicator to the rest.

Each fan base has their own problems to deal with, and deal with they should. The problem is, how many people are willing to reflect to make changes?

We don't live in a perfect world. Far from it. But seeing the garage area's response and how everybody came together to support Bubba Wallace gives me a small amount of hope that there is still a little bit of good left in humanity.