Bubba Wallace saved enough fuel and held off a hard-charging Kyle Larson to win Sunday’s (July 27) Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.
Ty Gibbs won the NASCAR In-Season Challenge over Ty Dillon, who was stuck a lap down for a majority of the race after he suffered damage on a restart.
Wallace had a comfortable lead over Larson with six laps to go, but a yellow flag for rain forced the race into a delay and led to two overtime restart.
Wallace beat Larson on the first overtime restart, but a caution for Zane Smith and Tyler Reddick led to another restart.
With a clean pack behind them, Wallace and Larson battled for the lead in turn 1 before Wallace eventually pulled away.
“I’m wore out,” Wallace told TNT Sports. “Oh my gosh, man. Just so proud of this team. Just want to thank everyone behind me for making this possible.”
Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top 10.
“The first (restart) played out a little bit better,” Larson said. “(When) the leader has the inside, it’s really hard to beat that. Kinda just hoping for some good fortune again with fuel and whatnot. Regardless, proud of my team today.”
Hamlin finished third after having to start at the rear following a crash in qualifying.
“They gave me something to work with,” Hamlin said, referencing his team putting together his back-up car.
William Byron was third going into the final restart but ran out of gas on the final lap and finished 16th.
The race was forced into overtime after the yellow flag flew for rain with six laps to go. The field was brought down pit road and the race was red flagged.
Ross Chastain‘s race came to an end on Lap 18 after contact from Michael McDowell sent him into the outside wall. Meanwhile, a loose wheel resulted in hard contact with the outside wall for Erik Jones on Lap 90. Mechanical issues knocked Noah Gragson and Austin Dillon out of the race.
Ty Gibbs won the In-Season Challenge over Ty Dillon with a 21st-place finish, beating Dillon by nine positions.
“We had a fast Saia Monster Energy Toyota Camry,” Gibbs said. “We did not end up where we wanted to be there at the end. But I want to say thank you so much to everyone that’s a part of this deal. Super cool.”
Brickyard 400 Results
The Cup Series will return at Iowa Speedway on Aug. 3. Coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.
Well, let’s countdown until we get the first “NASCAR let him win” or “Bubbles didn’t deserve it” comment… I’ll give the over/under at 2 hours
Oh, it’s already all over social media. My favorite is that NASCAR gave him “the call” & told Larson not to pass him.
That’s ludicrous on at least two levels, one being why didn’t they just call the race for him when it started raining? The other being Bubba’s driving for the team suing NASCAR over alleged anti-trust/monopoly violations, & NASCAR has counter-sued, raking away the team’s charters, & severely limiting their earning potential.
Just how much do these peope have to tie their brain into knots for that convoluted conspiracy theory to make “sense”?
I mean, that’s some serious Jethro Bodine, (no, he’s not related to Geoff, Brett, or Todd Bodine), “naught times naught is naught” thinking.
Yep. Wallace was correct in his victory interview, noting he wondered where they’d move the goalposts to after this win. They did not surprise. As usual, no one can explain why Wallace gets this treatment when no one else does. They may dislike other drivers, but they won’t claim every victory is due to some “reason” they developed via mental gymnastics. Which of course leaves us to assume the obvious answer is indeed the true reason why they do this.
No matter what he does, people will tear him down. If Chase Elliott had beaten Larson the way Wallace did (older tires, less fuel, multiple restarts), the same people would be yammering about how Chase is a better driver than Ricky Bobby and Richard Petty combined. Wallace wins, and they crank up the stupid excuse machine instead.
Ooh, I like to play conspiracy theory games!
The other being Bubba’s driving for the team suing NASCAR over alleged anti-trust/monopoly violations, & NASCAR has counter-sued, raking away the team’s charters, & severely limiting their earning potential.
MY conspiracy theory is the bold, underlined part is why NA$CAR let him win – they get to keep more money for themselves than they would if a chartered team won! That’s also why they let Hamlin win last week at Dover.
;-)
Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Ahh, details. You’re right. I got carried away because of his ownership in 23xl. Tinfoil hats tend to skew the facts like that when you wear them!
Being a non-chartered Team, Wallace’s winnings are about $3.50 and a pack of Winstons. LOL
What would NASCAR do if they found something wrong with his car during inspection? They probably wet their pants when he won.
Rednecks gotta redneck
Bubba won and he certainly earned the victory. I was wondering about the weather, fuel, and the double-overtime. He got it done, like him or not.