Darrell Wallace Jr., left, laughs with Richard Petty during news conference before NASCAR Cup series auto race qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Richard Petty Motorsports announced that Wallace Jr. will drive the No. 43 car for the organization beginning in 2018. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)
A Wisconsin high school golf coach has resigned and apologized for a series of racist tweets aimed at NASCAR driver Darrell Wallace Jr.
Brent Nottestad resigned Thursday as coach at Cambridge High School. Nottestad apologized, saying the tweets he posted Wednesday about Wallace, an African-American NASCAR driver, "went way over the line and it became racist."
DARRELL WALLACE TO DRIVE FOR RICHARD PETTY IN 2018
The Cambridge News and Deerfield Independent reported in one tweet Nottestad referred to the number "1423," which the Anti-Defamation League says is associated with a white supremacist prison gang. Nottestad says his choice of the number was random.
Nottestad told The Associated Press he made "a horrible mistake." He coached golf at the southern Wisconsin school since 2014.
Wallace is poised to become the first black full-time driver at NASCAR's top level since 1971.