SPEEDWAY, Indiana — Bubba Wallace called his shot last week.
The only people who knew it were Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen and IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin.
The unlikely trio of personalities has spent the summer of 2025 competing for fun in Legends cars as part of the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Unfortunately, due to an Air Force sponsor event, Wallace had to “pull the plug” on competing in the last day of the series, scheduled for the Tuesday after the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But…the 23XI Racing driver took to his group text with van Gisbergen and McLaughlin and placed his flag in the ground.
“I did say, ‘All right, if I win Sunday, I’ll race Tuesday,'” Wallace recalled.
After thinking about it, he “quickly edited” the message.
Now it read: “When I win Sunday, I will race Tuesday.'”
No Noise
The hours before the 29th running of the Brickyard 400 were a “surreal, surreal feeling” for Wallace.
It started in the morning when he read a passages from a book called “The Daily Stoic” by Ryan Holiday, a collection of one-page motivational essays on wisdom and philosophy.
“I don’t read it every day,” Wallace said. “l’ll let a week or so go by and then catch up and it just kind of (gets) me in the philosophical mindset (of the day) and trying to understand things from a different perspective.”
The themes of recent readings: “‘The wise doesn’t have problems,’ and the other one is ‘We’re always caught up in things we have to do instead of the things we get to do,'” said Wallace. “We never look at those things. We’re always like, ‘I gotta do this. I gotta do this. I gotta do this.’ Instead of the opposite of, ‘Well, this didn’t happen, I get to do this instead.'”
Walking out of this motor home later, Wallace “felt different.”
The feeling continued in the driver’s meeting as he found a seat alone.
Wallace pulled out his phone and busied himself with looking at “my race notes of what to do, what to expect.”
Then Doug Boles, the president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway addressed the assembled drivers.
During his speech, Boles included a “little caveat” that peaked Wallace’s interest.
“This could be the start of becoming a legend.”
While his No. 23 Toyota sat second on the starting grid, Wallace took part in the traditional pre-race ride around the track to acknowledge fans.
According to Wallace, there was nothing traditional about this ride.
“Rode around under the parade lap in the truck and I just I didn’t hear any noise,” Wallace recalled. “It was very weird, something I’ve never experienced.”
Just before the command to start engines was given Wallace’s first-year crew chief, Charles Denike, keyed up the team’s radio.
“You know why we build trophy cases?” Denike asked. “To fill it with trophies.”
Angel & Devil
For the last 20 laps of the Brickyard 400, Wallace had competing thoughts on his mind and plenty of reasons for them to be at war.
Wallace hadn’t won a points paying Cup Series race since 2022 at Kansas Speedway. Also, in the Next Gen era, no other driver has spent more time on the regular season playoff bubble — 16th or 17th in the standings — than Wallace (23 times).
“Here we are in the same spot before the race, same spot: is Bubba Wallace going to make it in on the playoffs?'” Wallace said.
Now he had nearly a five-second lead on second-place — Kyle Larson — in a Crown Jewel race.
Oh, and he was in danger of running out of gas.
“It’s kind of like the angel and devil on your shoulder,” Wallace observed.
The Devil’s whispers were loud and insistent.
“There was ups and downs of telling myself you’re not gonna be able to do it,” Wallace said.
But it wasn’t “all negative.”
The Angel was there, putting up a fight.
“At the same time, I was combatting, and I’m like, ‘Fucking right, we can do this,'” Wallace said. “But to even have that (negative) thought, it’s like, ‘Man, come on, focus.'”
Then….
Then came the rain.
Five laps before the scheduled conclusion, Turns 1 and 2 became drenched.
Out came the caution.
“Damn,” thought Wallace.
But he understood why.
However…
“I will say the first thing that came to my mind is, ‘Here we go again,'” Wallace said, referring to how he won his first Cup race in 2021. “‘If it rains and it ends, Lord have mercy, Twitter’s going to blow up.’ I said that for a second. But then I was like, ‘Man, I really want to win this straight up. I want to go back racing.’
“So I was content with it going on. I was bummed that we gave up that lead.”
Answered Prayers
For 18 minutes, the remaining cars in the field sat on pit road as the track was dried.
In the No. 23 pit stall, a crew member with a thick black beard knelt down behind the team’s pit, next to a tool box.
As Allen Bestwick’s voice spoke to fans over the track PA system, the crew member stared intently at ground, possibly praying.
Engines re-fired, the field returned to the track.
The crew member stared daggers at the TV on the back of the pit box as the cars paced the track, the fingers on his right hand twitching.
His job was done. There would be no more pit stops.
—
During the race’s two overtime attempts, the battle of Angels and Demons on Wallace’s shoulder “all went away.”
“It was time to really focus and get the job done,” the driver said.
In his pit box, energy began building.
“Take the white, motherfucker!” yelled the bearded No. 23 crew member, as Wallace barreled through Turns 3 and 4 with Larson in pursuit.
Right before crossing the yard of bricks, Denike came over the radio.
“Bubba, please confirm (fuel) pump 2,” Denike calmly requested.
“Yeah,” Wallace responded in kind.
“Ok, white flag.”
—
Going through Turn 4 for the last time, Wallace “knew it was a good Turn 4. I knew (Larson) wasn’t going to get there, so I knew we won.”
Three years after his last points win, Wallace was “quite surprised I wasn’t crying like a little baby. I was I guess more relieved.”
As his cool-down lap unfolded, Denike again came on the radio.
“So proud of you brother,” Denike said. “Awesome job everybody, way to grow some fuel. …
“What a day, this is why they build trophy cases. To fill them.”
Some time later, as Wallace sat in his car preparing to be lifted up to the IMS winner’s circle, he received a brief visitor. It was Larson, who, according to Wallace, was the “best in the field.”
“I have no problem saying that,” Wallace said. “I respect the hell out of what he does, how he drives. He pushes us all to be that good.”
Larson leaned into Wallace’s cockpit to congratulate him.
Despite their history together, what did it mean for the 2021 Cup champion to make the trip to see him?
“Game recognizes game,” Wallace said. “It’s a sign of respect. Like I said, I respect the hell out of what Larson does. I wish I had that talent. I said this in the past. You can’t be jealous of someone else’s success. It happens quicker for others. You just have to trust the process and enjoy the journey.
Punk Trophy
“Bub-ba! Bub-ba! Bub-ba!”
A large crowd of fans had gathered around the foot of Victory Lane and at the very end of the infield grandstand. They chanted while awaiting for Wallace to emerge from his car. On the frontstretch and in victory lane, Wallace could hear them.
He also heard the other fans.
“You’re going to have people booing, people cheering,” Wallace said. “I had a guy today call me a punk. I was like, ‘Okay, punks get trophies, I guess.’ It’s sports. Some different than others, but I definitely heard the cheers, and I appreciated that.”
Among those cheering and chanting his name was Tracy Morse.
Morse, a 50-year-old native of Harrisburg, Illinois, was amidst the crowd gathered at the base of Victory Lane.
She wore a white and black shirt with “23” and “Bubba” on it.
Morse, who watched the race from a seat in Turn 1, has “watched him come up the ranks.”
She chose Wallace as her driver because “he’s always been the underdog, and I’ve rooted for him and he’s got great talent.”
Morse has had two open heart surgeries, a knee replacement and requires a walker to get around. Despite that, she made sure to take a shuttle so she could watch Wallace’s celebration.
“It means the world to me,” Morse said. “I would not have missed it.”
Daniel McFadin is a 10-year veteran of the NASCAR media corp. He wrote for NBC Sports from 2015 to October 2020. He currently works full time for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and is lead reporter and an editor for Frontstretch. He is also host of the NASCAR podcast "Dropping the Hammer with Daniel McFadin" presented by Democrat-Gazette.
You can email him at danielmcfadin@gmail.com.