I am pretty sure that Petty does NOT have to wait until end of season to replace a driver.
Have followed many kinds of racing for over 60 years & never heard of such a thing.
Of course Petty doesn’t need to wait rules-wise. But this “incident” makes Bubba radioactive publicity wise. So now they have to bend over to accommodate him to avoid the hue and cry of the cancel culture mob, so he gets another season before getting let go.
Literally, Bubba is they only person with a financial incentive to do this hoax hate crime. Absolutely everyone one else would be taking a huge risk with a large financial disincentive with the extremely limited number of persons there that day, making discovery more likely. The risk/benefit ratio just doesn’t make them likely suspects (other drivers/crew/track employees)
Not counting out a marxist journalist antifa plant, but attention seeking coupled with very strong financial incentive makes Bubba the most likely suspect.