The Brickyard 400 wasn’t so much a race as it was a tornado in a blender—strategy chaos, weather drama, and enough plot twists to make a Hollywood screenwriter sweat.
Bubba Wallace was five minutes away from victory—then came rain, overtime, and Kyle Larson breathing down his neck. But on a wild Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wallace held his nerve, nursed a questionable fuel load, and held off last year’s winner to snatch a NASCAR crown jewel and his first win since 2022.
Wallace took the lead during green flag pit stops on Lap 143 and looked to be in the catbird seat, with Larson a few ticks behind and carrying a splash more fuel. But with under 10 laps to go—just five minutes from glory—a rogue rain cell hovered over Turn 1 like a judgment cloud. NASCAR threw the red flag, stopping the race for over 18 minutes and tossing the whole fuel mileage equation into a flaming barrel.
That set up a white-knuckle double-overtime finish. And Wallace’s crew chief, Charles Denike, didn’t sugarcoat the situation.
“Full save here,” he told his driver. “Obviously not in a good spot on fuel. We’ve got to make it to when pit road opens.”
Then came the do-or-die order:
“Stay out. Stay out. Save for your life here. Everything you’ve got.”
Stay out he did. Save he did. On the second overtime restart, Wallace out-dragged Larson and crossed the line just 0.222 seconds ahead to score the win.
“I’m wore out,” Wallace said. “I thought about every which way to Sunday besides driving a race car, having that red flag. Oh, my gosh, man. Just so proud of this team.
“That adrenaline rush is crazy because I’m coming off that right now, and I’m wore out.”
Behind the lead duo, Denny Hamlin clawed his way from the back in a backup car to finish third. Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five.
“I have to say thank you to everyone at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) for chipping in yesterday, and 23XI (Racing) for wrapping the car,” Hamlin said. “Yesterday, (was) a huge team effort. I’ve never seen so many people come together to get this done. It needed a lot of work, and they gave me something I could contend with.”
Larson admitted he wouldn’t have done anything different if he had another shot.
“I was second gear on the first restart, and honestly, that one worked out a little bit better, but he almost got clear of me down the front stretch,” Larson said. “And then on the second restart, he brought the pace down a little bit slower, so I needed to be first gear. It was kind of the same thing with me last year – he had the preferred lane on the inside and it’s really hard to beat that.”
It didn’t take long for the strategy pot to boil over. Polesitter Chase Briscoe led the first 18 laps with ease, until Ross Chastain and Michael McDowell tangled, sending Chastain into the wall and bringing out the first caution. Briscoe pitted, but others—Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, and Josh Berry stayed out. When the green flew, Cindric rocketed out to the lead proving clean air was king.
From Bracket Buster to Brickyard Heartbreak, Ty Dillon Nearly Pulled It Off
But strategy giveth and taketh. The non-stoppers all bailed with less than 10 to go in the stage, handing the lead back to Briscoe, who went on to win Stage 1.
Stage 2 started with a curveball: Ryan Preece and six others stayed out, while Carson Hocevar leapfrogged Briscoe on pit road with a two-tire call. By Lap 66, Cindric was back in front, riding the high of a long-run gamble—until his front tire gave up the ghost on Lap 84. His Ford limped back to pit road, but the green stayed out, leaving fuel-strategy teams with sweaty palms.
Seven laps later, chaos returned. Erik Jones, fresh off a pit stop, discovered his right front tire hadn’t been tightened. His Toyota slammed into the outside wall, who probably didn’t appreciate it, and the caution flew again, unraveling most teams’ carefully laid plans.
Green came out with four to go in Stage 2. Ryan Blaney, who hadn’t pitted, led the restart. Briscoe, once again trying to rally, restarted 15th. Blaney held on to win the stage—barely. His team cut it so close on fuel he ran out as the caution waved, coasting to pit road before it opened and dooming himself to the back to start the final Stage.
Hamlin, who’d wrecked his primary car in qualifying and started in a backup, began the final stage in second—just behind Larson. Familiar territory. But there was still one more stop ahead for everyone.
Berry kicked off the final round of pit stops on Lap 117. Logano followed, took just two tires, and emerged with a blistering six-second stop. Larson led the lead pack down on Lap 120, and from there it became a high-speed game of poker.
Logano, Wallace, and Tyler Reddick were the big gamblers. They had pitted early and cycled to the front, hoping the fuel tank gods would smile on them. Larson, topped off and patient, was the shark circling—pressuring the trio to burn more gas.
But Logano blinked first. On Lap 133, a tire failure sent him to pit road, and then things really unraveled—his car lost power altogether. Penske’s hopes fell to Blaney, but he pitted on Lap 139, leaving Wallace to lead with 17 to go.
Wallace. Reddick. Larson. Three contenders, one looming question: who had enough in the tank?
On Lap 140, Larson pounced—passing Reddick and eating into Wallace’s lead. With 14 laps to go, the gap was just over five seconds.
Just when things couldn’t get more chaotic, Mother Nature showed up like a drunk aunt at a wedding and started flinging weather. A pop-up shower hit Turn 1, while the rest of the 2.5-mile cathedral stayed bone dry. NASCAR had no choice—caution, then red.
Eighteen minutes later, with the sun shining, the engines roared back to life. It would be a green-white-checkered finish. Reddick pitted, leaving the top five to duke it out with whatever fumes remained in their tanks.
Wallace had enough—barely. Enough fuel, enough nerve, and enough grit to hang on and score the emotional, hard-fought win. And while it was his first win since 2022, it was the first he could share with his young son, a new addition to his family since that last win. And one that helps silence his critics.
“It don’t matter,” he said. “I’m already winning at life. I’ve got the best wife, the best kid. People are always going to say something. I am excited to see how far the goal post has moved. I get to go to chase that now. How many days since my last win”
For the record that would be 100 days.
Todd Gilliland, Blaney, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top 10.
As for the in-season $1 million Cinderella story? Ty Dillon’s glass slipper cracked early. Damage from a restart dropped him to 28th, three laps down. Ty Gibbs cruised to 21st, and more importantly, took the million-dollar check.
Next stop: Iowa Speedway, where last year’s winner Ryan Blaney will try to rebound from one that got away in Central Indiana.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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