[wideawake]

They may be insinuating that there is tension in the air because NASCAR fans are usually white and DSU is an historically black university.

The subtext is "two students at a proud historically black college were shot and nearly killed at exactly the same time that the area was crowded with redneck, good 'ol boy stock car racing fans."

[uptoolate]

this is also part of the background subtext-

...while race tensions in America are high due to the protests by the Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton in regards to the ‘Jena 6.’