Bubba Wallace scores biggest NASCAR win of career at Indianapolis

Bubba Wallace entered this weekend mired in a 100 race winless drought, while also finding himself on the playoff bubble, but left the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a trip to Victory Lane that solved both.

Wallace was almost short on fuel come a pair of overtime finishes and had defending winner Kyle Larson bearing down upon him over both restarts but survived them en route to the biggest win of his career in the Circle City crown jewel.

“I’m worn out,” said Wallace during his frontstretch television interview. “I thought things every which way besides driving a race car during that red flag … The adrenaline rush is crazy! I want to thank all these people behind me, all the men and women of Airspeed for making this possible. Welcome to victory lane, Becks (son)! It’s pretty cool. To overcome so much and to put these people in victory lane, that’s what it’s all about. These people keep pushing me, believing in me. Man, just so proud. Thank you!”

Wallace, a generally polarizing figure received mostly applauses from the crowd in Indiana, and responded to them by hoisting son Becks up towards the frontstretch grandstands.

Larson and Denny Hamlin completed the figurative podium. Hamlin is co-owner of the 23XI Racing car that Wallace took to victory lane alongside Michael Jordan. This is the first win for 23XI this season, a somewhat challenging campaign that has coincided with a bitter antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR that has the teams competing as an open organization without a charter.

Ty Gibbs finished 21st, seven spots ahead of Ty Dillon, to earn the $1 million prize in the final round of the inaugural In-Season Challenge tournament. Gibbs said he would donate $10,000 to a charity chosen by Dillon, matched by his finale rival.

The race was briefly interrupted by a 30 minute rain shower and drying process that preceded the pair of overtimes.

In winning the race, Wallace all but locks into a playoff spot with four races left in the regular season but three spots still remaining on points. Reddick, teammate to Wallace, is 138 points above the cutline even with a late crash after running inside the top-10 before pitting after the rain delay with Alex Bowman 83 points up and Chris Buescher leading RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece by 42 points.

A winner from anyone below the cutline would lock them in and move the cutline up.

The next race is Sunday, August 3 at Iowa Speedway at 3:30 and will air on USA Network. 

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