INDIANAPOLIS — Bubba Wallace grew to become the primary Black driver to win on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval, surviving a late rain delay, two overtimes, considerations over working out of gas and a hard-charging Kyle Larson on Sunday within the Brickyard 400.
The third NASCAR Cup victory of Wallace’s profession was additionally his largest. It snapped a 100-race winless streak that dated to 2022 at Kansas. He additionally received at Talladega in 2021. It is his first win at one among NASCAR’s 4 crown jewel races.
“Unbelievable,” Wallace shouted on his radio after crossing the yard of bricks.
And whereas the ultimate hole was 0.222 seconds, he did not attain victory lane with out some consternation.
Larson trailed by 5.057 seconds with 14 laps to go however the hole was all the way down to about three seconds with six remaining when the yellow flag got here out due to rain. The vehicles rolled to a cease on pit lane with 4 to go, giving Wallace about 20 further minutes to assume and rethink his restart technique.
However after beating Larson by the second flip, a crash behind the leaders pressured a second additional time, extending the race much more laps as Wallace’s group thought he may run out of gasoline.
Wallace risked every part by staying on the monitor then beat the defending race winner off the restart once more to forestall Larson from turning into the fourth back-to-back winner of the Brickyard.
It additionally alleviated the frustration Wallace felt Saturday when he spent a lot of the qualifying session on the provisional pole solely to see Chase Briscoe surpass with one of many final runs within the session.
He made positive there was no repeat Sunday, giving an added increase to the 23XI Racing co-owned by basketball Corridor of Famer Michael Jordan and final week’s race winner, Denny Hamlin, because it continues to battle NASCAR in court docket over its constitution standing.