Bubba Wallace Stretches the Fuel to Capture Brickyard 400 Win

Bubba Wallace will be forever etched in history as a winner of the Brickyard 400 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway as he stretched the fuel tank in a double-overtime finish in Sunday's race and was able to hold off Kyle Larson by a margin of 0.222 seconds to pick up the win.

Race Results: NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400

After climbing from his car and exclaiming, "Let's go!" from atop his No. 23 race car, Wallace was emotional in his post-race interview on TNT. The driver, who has seen his fair share of ups and downs throughout his career, was thankful to his team for sticking with him, and proud he could get his son Becks Hayden Wallace into victory lane.

"Just so proud of this team. That adrenaline rush is crazy because I'm coming off of that right now, and I'm worn out. But I just want to thank everybody behind me right here, all of these guys, all of these men and women at Airspeed, for making this possible. Thank you," Wallace said with emotion in his eyes. "I don't see my wife and kid, but welcome to victory lane, Becks. That's pretty cool. Officially. Daytona was Daytona, but to overcome so much, and to put these people here in victory lane, that's what it's about. It's about these people who continue to push me, believe in me. Man, just so proud. And I appreciate all of you guys, thank you."

For Wallace, 31, this is his first NASCAR Cup Series victory since a triumph at Kansas Speedway in September 2022. With the win in Sunday's crown jewel event, Wallace is now a three-time race winner in NASCAR Cup Series competition.

In winning the race, 23XI Racing becomes the third "Open" entry team to ever win a NASCAR Cup Series race, joining Kaulig Racing, which accomplished the feat by winning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2021 with AJ Allmendinger, and Trackhouse Racing, which accomplished it in the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023 with Shane van Gisbergen.

Wallace had the race won as he had a sizeable lead over Kyle Larson thanks to a call by his crew chief Charles Denike to take just two tires on the final green flagt pit sequence. However, with four laps remaining in the race, rain sent the race to caution and eventually a red flag.

What seemed like a sure-thing win for Wallace, now was very much in doubt.

"I thought about every which way to Sunday, besides how to drive a race car under that red flag," Wallace said after the race.

When the race resumed, Wallace was able to defeat Larson on the first Overtime restart, but Christopher Bell would collide with Zane Smith, which sent Smith spinning on the backstretch with two laps to go. What would ensue was a multi-car melee involving Smith, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, and Jesse Love, which would send the race into double overtime.

There's trouble down the backstretch! Several cars are involved. pic.twitter.com/5OjtMvzLH6
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 27, 2025

With the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE running on fumes, Wallace was able to accelerate when the green flag came back out, and he took full possession of the race lead against Kyle Larson going through Turn 1.

Wallace would keep the foot to the floor as he crossed the finish line on Lap 168 to add the crown jewel race to his list of career achievements. Wallace would then perform a lengthy post-race celebratory burnout, which showed that the driver did a masterful job of saving fuel on the final fuel load of the race.

Another impactful thing that comes along with the win for Wallace is a second-career NASCAR Cup Series Playoff berth. Wallace, who made the Playoffs by way of points in 2023, won't have to sweat it out over the final four races of the Regular Season this year to see if he makes it into the Playoffs.

Whether you feel its fair or not, Wallace has had to fight through a lot of hate among the NASCAR fan base throughout his career. After the race, Wallace was asked about his detractors.

"It don't matter. I'm already winning at life. I have 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. So, I get to chase that, now," Wallace said. "How many days since my last win?"

Wallace responded to his own question with, "Zero."

Larson, who won the 2024 edition of the Brickyard 400, came up just shy of back-to-back wins in the iconic event with his runner-up finish to Wallace. While he came up short of his fourth win of the season, Larson explained there's only so much you can do late in the race on restarts from the runner-up spot at Indianapolis.

"I mean, the first one played out a little bit better, but it's so hard -- it's kind of the same thing with me last year, the leader has the inside [line], it's really hard to beat that," Larson explained. "So, you're just hoping for some good fortune again with fuel and whatnot, but regardless, I'm proud of my team today. We just executed."

Denny Hamlin worked his way through the field from the 39th and final starting spot to finish in the third position. Hamlin, who crashed hard during his qualifying run on Saturday afternoon, had to march from the rear of the field in a backup car. A jubilant Hamlin was thankful for everyone who had a hand in getting his backup car prepared after a disastrous day on Saturday, and he had a unique perspective on the day as he finished third as a driver, but won the race as a team owner.

"A little bit of both," Hamlin said when asked if he was celebrating his driving achievement or team owner achievement on Sunday. "I mean, great day for our whole Progressive Toyota team. I have to say thank you to everyone at JGR, all four teams, for chipping in, 23XI Racing for wrapping the car, yesterday. Just a huge team effort. I've never seen so many people come together to get this car together. It needed a lot of work, and they gave me something I could contend with, I mean, there's not a whole lot we can complain with. I think we set the fast lap again on the last lap, there, so, the car is capable."

With the solid finish, Hamlin drew to within 20 points of the NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season championship lead, which is held by Chase Elliott, with four races remaining until the Playoffs begin.

RFK Racing teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski came home in the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top-10 finishers in Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Chase Elliott came home in the 13th position, which was enough to preserve his NASCAR Cup Series point lead. Elliott will leave Indianapolis with a four-point advantage over William Byron, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Elliott was fortunate that Byron suffered from running out of fuel on the last lap, which resulted in Byron finishing the race in 16th.

Kyle Larson sits 15 points behind Elliott in the third position, and Hamlin is now fourth, 20 points back.

Wallace became the 13th different winner this season, which leaves just three spots up for grabs in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field.

With four races remaining until the Playoffs begin, here is how the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Cutline looks:

14. Tyler Reddick, +138 points
15. Alex Bowman, +63
16. Chris Buescher, +42
===Cut Line===
17. Ryan Preece, -42
18. Kyle Busch, -81
19. Ty Gibbs, -95
20. AJ Allmendinger, -124

Ty Gibbs finished the race in 21st, which usually wouldn't be a noteworthy result, but on this afternoon, that was enough for the 22-year-old driver to net a $1 million payday as he topped Ty Dillon, who finished 28th, to take the championship in NASCAR's first-ever In-Season Bracket tournament. Gibbs was the No. 6 seed, while Dillon entered the tournament as the No. 32 seed.

In a classy move, Gibbs said he will donate $10,000 of his winnings from the tournament of Dillon's choice.

"It's great. First of all, I want to say, all glory to God. The other thing I want to say is a million dollars is a lot of money. I'm going to give $10,000 to wherever Ty Dillon wants to choose to give to [whatever] charity. It's his choice," Gibbs said.

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway. That race is set for Sunday, August 3, and will be the first race televised by NBC Sports as the race will be aired on USA Network with coverage set to begin at 3:30 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.

With four races remaining until the Playoffs begin, here is how the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Cutline looks:

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