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The Big 6: Questions Answered After Bubba Wallace Survives Double Overtime in Indy

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Who… should you be talking about after the race?

Winning a race in NASCAR’s top series is an achievement most drivers will never experience. Winning one of its most prestigious events is even tougher, and when a driver is facing a triple-digit winless streak, it’s a daunting task. But Bubba Wallace rose to the occasion on Sunday to win the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, stretching his fuel through a red flag for rain and two overtime restarts.

Wallace started second and showed plenty of speed, finishing second and 10th in the opening stages. In the final stage, a well-timed pit stop saw Wallace running second to Joey Logano, whose team had played the strategy game perfectly all day. But a flat tire for Logano passed the lead to Wallace, who held point by a couple of seconds over defending race winner Kyle Larson with just five laps to go when a brief rain shower soaked turn 1 (and somehow only turn 1), bringing out a red flag until the track was dry.

Wallace, along with most of the leaders, was tight on fuel—pit timing had given him track position but left little margin for error. He endured the overtime restart, clearing Larson and pulling away, but a Zane Smith crash on the backstretch brought out the yellow flag before Wallace took the white, and teams circled the track while crews cleaned things up. As the field came to one to go and the final choose of the day, Wallace was advised that one more lap under caution would have run him dry.

But Wallace had enough in the tank to have a second outstanding restart, and this time he was able to lead the field to the finish without further incident. It’s Wallace’s first victory of 2025 and the third of his Cup Series career.

Also taking home quite a prize this week was Ty Gibbs, who finished ahead of Ty Dillon to win the first million-dollar In-Season Challenge. After the single-elimination tournament got off to a chaotic start at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gibbs and Dillon outpaced their competitors in every round. In a classy move, Gibbs offered to donate $10,000 of his winnings to the charity of Dillon’s choice, acknowledging the other driver’s strong run.

On the other hand… 

Pole winner Chase Briscoe led a total of 34 laps and won the first stage. The Indiana native had a good car, but fuel strategy didn’t play the No. 19 team’s way. He had to visit pit road in order to make it to the finish after the rain delay. Briscoe wound up 18th, denied a win in his home state by a few drops of race fuel.

What… does this mean for the points standings?

There weren’t many changes at the top as Chase Elliott hung onto the top spot over teammate William Byron, who narrowed the gap to nine points but ran out of fuel on the final overtime while running third and finished 16th, leaving the points lead with Elliott. Larson and Denny Hamlin held fast in third and fourth on the tally. Christopher Bell grabbed the fifth spot from Tyler Reddick, who was derailed by an overtime crash.

Reddick fell to sixth, while the rest of the top 10 remained unchanged with Ryan Blaney, Briscoe, Alex Bowman and Chris Buescher in positions seventh through 10th.

Buescher found himself on the playoff bubble this week after Wallace locked himself in. Buescher went home with a 42-point lead over teammate Ryan Preece, which looks solid with four races to go but only without a new winner outside the current cut.

Where… did (s)he come from? 

Thanks to varying strategies and a little late chaos, just two drivers who started the day in the top 10 finished there, with the rest starting anywhere from 13th to 39th. Starting 39th was Hamlin, who crashed in his qualifying attempt and had to go to his backup car. Hamlin worked his way steadily forward to finish third. 

Fourth-place Preece, who sits just below the playoff cut line, started 23rd. In the midst of the best season of his career, Preece likely still needs a win to make the cut, but he’s showing the talent that made him a Modified champion. His team owner Brad Keselowski came from 14th for a top five.

But one of the most impressive runs of the day was rookie Katherine Legge, who is running a partial schedule for underfunded Live Fast Motorsports. Legge started 38th and finished a solid 17th on the day. Imagine if Legge had had the same opportunities in good equipment as Danica Patrick in both IndyCar and NASCAR? She’d be better.

When… was the moment of truth?

If you like seeing different strategies play out, this race was for you. Varying pit schedules showed up early. But the race was also a reminder that Lady Luck may have a say.

Team Penske nailed their pit strategy for the day in stage 1 for Austin Cindric and Logano, but right rear tire issues for both superseded the pit calls. Logano had been in position to win handily before his issue.

Wallace’s team nailed the last pit call and had a sizable lead with just four laps remaining when the rain came. It left just as suddenly as it arrived, but with turn 1 soaked, NASCAR had no choice but to display the red flag. Then, after one nail-biter of a restart, a crash on the backstretch meant doing it all again.

Not only was Wallace dangerously short on fuel for one overtime, let alone two, but he had to hold off Larson, who had been gaining on him on the final run.

The truth is, sometimes a team gets everything right.

Why… should you be paying attention this week?

With just four races to go in the regular season, all eyes will be on Iowa Speedway. Still a relative unknown for the Cup Series, Iowa represents one of the last chances for drivers to win their way into the playoffs.

Blaney won the inaugural Cup race at Iowa last year from a front-row starting spot. A repeat would give him some much-needed momentum after a roller-coaster of a season. 

Another driver in need of a pick-me-up who could find it in Iowa is Bell, who finished fourth last year after starting at the back of the field for going to his backup car. He’s got a pair of Xfinity Series wins there as well. Other drivers in the field with wins in other series include Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Briscoe, Preece, Byron, Erik Jones, Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. , Austin Dillon and John Hunter Nemechek.

If you’re an Xfinity Series fan, keep an eye on the penalty report to see if Austin Hill gets hit with additional penalties after he was parked for five laps at Indy on Saturday for hooking Aric Almirola into the wall in a section that does not have SAFER barriers installed (inexcusable in this day and age but another story entirely) after Almirola got him loose. Hill appeared to have the car back under control when he took a hard left into Almirola’s right rear.

While owner Richard Childress argued that Cindric avoided suspension for hooking Ty Dillon at Circuit of the Americas earlier this year, that was at much lower speeds. It’s a lot harder to excuse hooking a driver at full speed at Indianapolis, especially where there is still a concrete wall.

How… did this race stack up?

Thanks to the rain, the race produced a tight finish with double overtime and the added tension of many teams on the ragged edge with fuel mileage. Wallace’s win looked to be immensely popular among his competitors and he hadn’t won yet this year. New winners are always good for the series.

But lap for lap, was it the best race of the weekend? The Xfinity cars put on a heck of a show on Saturday, and with the exception of a few tracks, that’s becoming the norm. 

It might be time to look harder at what makes the NXS cars race well on almost every type of track and why the Next Gen Cup car struggles. It might not be just the cars; the teams and drivers are hungry to prove themselves on a national stage where sometimes the Cup teams seem more complacent. Whatever it is, it’s hard to deny.

How long will NASCAR let its premier series be outshone on a near-weekly basis?

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Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.

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