Even before Bubba Wallace climbed into his 23XI Racing Toyota for this year’s Brickyard 400, he said he had a surreal feeling. He hadn’t won a NASCAR Cup race since September 2022, and he’d never won a Crown Jewel event.
That all changed in a nerve-wracking double-overtime, 160-lap race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that had many wondering if Wallace’s Toyota had enough fuel to make it to the finish line. Wallace’s Toyota didn’t fail him, and he claimed his first Crown Jewel race victory and his third career Cup win.
His narrow win over Kyle Larson snapped a 100-race winless streak and secured him a berth in the playoffs with four races remaining in the regular season.
“I’m wore out,” said Wallace, who received several congratulatory bumps from his competitors on the cool-down lap. “It’s about these people that continue to push me, believe in me.
“To win here at the Brickyard, knowing how big this race is, knowing all the noise that’s going on in the background, to set that all aside is a testament to these people here on this (No.) 23 team. It’s been getting old right around the (point) cut line (for the playoffs).”
Wallace says the detractors to his career no longer bother him.
“I’m already wining at life,” Wallace says. “I’ve got the best wife, the best kid. People are always going to say something.”
Wallace possessed a comfortable lead of a little more than four seconds over Larson when it started raining with five laps remaining. That brought out the fifth yellow flag. Then the rain intensified, and the race was halted for 18 minutes 12 seconds.
When it came time to restart the race, Wallace took the inside lane while Larson chose the outside. Wallace beat Larson off turn one but before he could take the white flag, a five-car crash occurred on the backstretch.
For the double overtime restart, Wallace once again took the inside lane, and Larson went to the outside. Lining up behind Wallace were William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher. Behind Larson were Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell and Brad Keselowski. When the green flag waved, Wallace and Larson once again stayed even until Wallace pulled ahead and maintained the advantage the rest of the way, finishing 0.222 second ahead of Larson.
“There’s nothing you can do here (at IMS) to pass, so no, I don’t really think there was anything I could do differently,” Larson said. “I was second gear on the first restart, and honestly, that one worked out a little bit better, but he almost got clear of me down the frontstretch. And then on the second restart, he brought the pace down a little bit slower, so I needed to be first gear. It was kind of the same thing with me last year. He had the preferred lane on the inside and it’s really hard to beat that.”
Gibbs Wins $1 Million In-Season Challenge
Joe Gibbs Racing walked off with $1 million in the Brickyard 400 thanks to Ty Gibbs defeating Ty Dillon in the final round of the In-Season Challenge.
Gibbs said his sponsor Saia challenged Dillon’s sponsor whoever loses gets $10,000 for Toys for Tots.
“I want to put another $10,000 on top of that. Wherever Ty (Dillon) wants it to go will be his choice,” Gibbs said.
At one point after the race, Gibbs was given a money gun to fire phony $1 million bills to the fans. However, it jammed so he just grabbed the phony money and started throwing it to the fans.
The 22-year-old Gibbs finished 21st in the Brickyard 400 won by Bubba Wallace, while Dillon placed 28th, three laps down. Dillon was never able to challenge Gibbs for the inaugural In-Season Challenge title due to damage the nose of his Kaulig Racing Chevrolet suffered on a restart.
“Something happened where it knocked off all the air duct and pinched off the air so the motor wouldn’t run down the straightaways,” Dillon said. “Then you are just kind of riding for the rest of the day.”
More Penalties a Possibility for Hill
NASCAR held Austin Hill on pit road for five laps for reckless driving after an incident involving the Richard Childress Racing driver and Aric Almirola during Saturday’s Pennzoil 250. However, more penalties may be on the horizon.
A NASCAR spokesperson said the turn three wreck on lap 91of Saturday’s 100-lap race would be discussed further when NASCAR officials review everything from the weekend and determine penalties.
After walking from the infield care center, Almirola said Hill’s hit that turned the Joe Gibbs Racing driver into the outside wall was “definitely intentional.” He described it as “one of the biggest hits in his NASCAR career.” Almirola said Hill blocked him a few times before the crash involving the two drivers occurred.
Hill maintains he was attempting to regain control of his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet when he hit Almirola.
Results
NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
1. (2) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 168.
2. (13) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 168.
3. (39) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 168.
4. (23) Ryan Preece, Ford, 168.
5. (14) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 168.
6. (19) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 168.
7. (24) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 168.
8. (16) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 168.
9. (21) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 168.
10. (8) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 168.
11. (28) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 168.
12. (36) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 168.
13. (30) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 168.
14. (7) Chris Buescher, Ford, 168.
15. (10) Austin Cindric, Ford, 168.
16. (6) William Byron, Chevrolet, 168.
17. (38) Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 168.
18. (1) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 168.
19. (11) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 168.
20. (29) Cole Custer, Ford, 168.
21. (5) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 168.
22. (17) Josh Berry, Ford, 168.
23. (9) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 167.
24. (35) Jesse Love(i), Chevrolet, 167.
25. (12) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 166.
26. (25) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 166.
27. (31) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 165.
28. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 165.
29. (4) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, Accident, 163.
30. (22) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 162.
31. (27) Zane Smith, Ford, Accident, 161.
32. (15) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 160.
33. (18) Noah Gragson, Ford, 153.
34. (37) Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, Electrical, 125.
35. (32) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 101.
36. (3) Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 89.
37. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, Fatigue, 58.
38. (20) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 56.
39. (33) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 17.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 124.598 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 22 Mins, 15 Secs. Margin of Victory:.222 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps.
Lead Changes: 15 among 10 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Briscoe 0;C. Briscoe 1-19;A. Cindric 20-41;C. Briscoe 42-51;R. Preece 52-63;A. Bowman 64-65;A. Cindric 66-83;*. Wallace 84-87;C. Briscoe 88-92;R. Blaney 93-100;K. Larson 101-104;D. Hamlin 105;K. Larson 106-120;J. Nemechek 121;J. Haley 122-136;R. Blaney 137-142;*. Wallace 143-168.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Austin Cindric 2 times for 40 laps; Chase Briscoe 3 times for 34 laps; * Bubba Wallace 2 times for 30 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 19 laps; Justin Haley 1 time for 15 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 14 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 12 laps; Alex Bowman 1 time for 2 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 1 lap; John Hunter Nemechek 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,23,24,45,17,8,77,5,3,16
Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,5,11,24,6,48,77,22,17,23
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