Wallace Stars In Dramatic, Double-Overtime Brickyard 400

Bubba Wallace celebrates on the frontstretch after winning Sunday's Brickyard 400. (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Bubba Wallace silenced all his detractors, as well as the outside noise surrounding his 23XI Racing team, with the biggest win of his life Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Managing an extended fuel run to the finish, Wallace held off defending race winner Kyle Larson in double overtime to win the 29th Brickyard 400 presented by PPG and notch his first NASCAR Cup Series crown-jewel victory in doing so.

Though he only led twice for 30 laps at the iconic 2.5-mile oval, Wallace took control at the Brickyard after his good friend Ryan Blaney pitted from the race lead on lap 143, coming to 17 to go in regulation.

From there, the 31-year-old from Mobile, Ala., never relinquished the top spot even as two late caution periods – including an 18-minute stoppage for a brief rain shower – pushed the race into extra distance.

But despite all that chaos, Wallace never faltered.

He made his final pit stop on lap 120 and then stretched his final tank of Sunoco fuel 48 laps to the finish for the third Cup Series triumph of his nine-year career at the top level.

Wallace officially beat Larson to the finish line by .222 seconds to snap a 100-race Cup Series winless drought, dating back to Kansas Speedway in September of 2022, and ink his return to the playoffs for team co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.

“That adrenaline rush is crazy,” Wallace said after climbing from his No. 23 Chumba Casino Toyota Camry XSE. “I’m worn out. Unbelievable. 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, running on the (playoff) cut line.

“How many days since my last win [now]? Zero.”

Wallace’s win made him the first African American driver to ever win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval and just the second Black racer to win a major motorsports event at the facility, after Lewis Hamilton won the 2007 Formula 1 race on the IMS road course.

Within his 48-lap closing stint were two moments prior to the checkered flag where the race easily could have ended and Wallace was still out front.

After the final pit cycle ended on lap 143, he had a five-second advantage over teammate Tyler Reddick, but had to quickly contend with Larson when the latter made the pass for second three laps later.

Larson trimmed his five-second deficit down to 3.18 seconds, but a rain shower in turn one of the mammoth 2.5-mile oval with six to go in regulation both closed that gap and forced a stoppage on pit road while the track was dried – with questions swirling as to whether the race would, in fact, resume.

It eventually did, and Wallace wrestled with Larson on the first overtime restart that followed before clearing to the lead off the second corner. Further back, however, contact between Christopher Bell and Zane Smith sent Smith spinning in traffic on the backstretch and led to a five-car accident that brought out the last of six yellow flags.

That melee preceded the second and final extra period, with Wallace’s crew chief Charles Denike believing at that point that their car wouldn’t be able to make it back to the finish with the added laps.

Wallace dug deep, though, and not only saved enough fuel to win the race outright – he saved enough for an impressive burnout on the frontstretch before his emotional victory interview.

“What are they going to say about us now, huh?” he cheered over the radio amid the celebration.

Larson took home the runner-up honors instead of a successful defense of his Brickyard 400 crown, with Hamlin charging from last in the 39-car field to finish third in a backup car after his vicious qualifying wreck on Saturday afternoon.

The RFK Racing duo of Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski filled out the top five, followed by Todd Gilliland, stage-two winner Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, and Carson Hocevar.

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric led the most laps – 40 – on the day, but his chance at victory was scuttled on lap 84 when he cut a right-rear tire and had to make an unscheduled pit stop from the lead.

Cindric ended up 15th.

Polesitter and Indiana native Chase Briscoe led 34 laps early, including winning stage one, but was never a factor in the closing run and finished 18th.

The NASCAR Cup Series continues its run toward the playoffs at Iowa Speedway, where Blaney won a year ago at the seven-eighths-mile, D-shaped oval. Four races remain in the regular season.

Broadcast coverage of the Iowa Corn 350 airs Sunday, Aug. 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.