{"id":53748,"date":"2025-07-28T13:16:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T18:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=53748"},"modified":"2025-08-07T13:20:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T18:20:58","slug":"bubba-wallaces-win-at-indianapolis-could-launch-the-next-phase-of-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/28\/bubba-wallaces-win-at-indianapolis-could-launch-the-next-phase-of-his-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Bubba Wallace\u2019s win at Indianapolis could launch the next phase of his career"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 On Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Bubba Wallace took a giant step toward stardom.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 Chumba Casino Toyota, poses with the Brickyard 400 trophy in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 Presented by PPG at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the NASCAR Cup Series drivers lined up for the first of two overtimes, however, the script wasn\u2019t trending in the direction of a Wallace victory in the Brickyard 400.<\/p>\n

The driver of the No. 23 Toyota had been cruising toward the most important triumph of his career when the deus ex machina in the form of sudden rainfall intervened with four laps left.<\/p>\n

NASCAR was forced to stop the race, and expectations for the outcome changed as suddenly as the rain had come.<\/p>\n

The script would read as follows: Rain wipes out Wallace\u2019s 3.5-second lead with four laps left. Kyle Larson, lining up second to Wallace\u2019s outside, uses his superior speed and race craft to pull ahead on the restart and win his fourth race of the season, leaving Wallace bitterly disappointed.<\/p>\n

But Wallace flipped the script in a scenario that required two overtime restarts. Twice he held his own against Larson down the frontstretch and used the advantage of the inside lane to edge ahead in the first two corners.<\/p>\n

Short on fuel after pitting on Lap 119 of 168, Wallace had enough left for a long, joyful burnout after beating Larson to the finish line to secure the third and most significant victory of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cBubba did a really good job, and his team did a great job executing their strategy to get that track position,\u201d said Larson, who won last year\u2019s race at the Brickyard. \u201cSo, congrats to them, and really, really cool to win here.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the race, Wallace\u2019s crew chief, Charles Denike, fiercely defended his driver\u2019s ability.<\/p>\n

\u201cBubba\u2019s a superstar,\u201d Denike asserted. \u201cThat\u2019s what we do. We win. We\u2019re here to win. We came and won. I\u2019m proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the rain was a blessing in disguise, given that restarts require instinct, muscle memory and split-second decision making with little time for reflection. Before the rain came, Wallace had been turning laps with bouts of intermittent self-doubt gnawing at his psyche.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll say those last 20 laps there was ups and downs of telling myself, \u2018You’re not going to be able to do it.\u2019 I hate that I’m that way\u2026 I think that’s my biggest downfall. We’re all human, and we’re all super hard on ourselves. You guys know how hard I am on myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, I was combatting, and I’m like, \u2018(Freaking) right, we can do this.\u2019 It was kind of like the angel and devil on your shoulder. It wasn’t all negative. But to even have that thought, it’s like, \u2018Man, come on, focus.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat all went away on the restarts, because it was time to really focus and get the job done. Yeah, just still working out those kinks and growing as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin, co-owner of Wallace\u2019s 23XI Racing Camry, has seen that growth up close, and he traced Wallace\u2019s progress to the birth of his son Becks last September.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seems like for me something changed mid last year,\u201d said Hamlin, who finished third Sunday in the No. 11 Toyota he drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. \u201cYou can relate it to having a child or whatever, but something happened mid last year where I saw a change in attitude that then changed work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I’m hoping he takes from this is that hard work pays off. It really does pay off. Hopefully, we see more of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naysayers will note that Wallace ended a 100-race losing streak with the win at the Brickyard. They\u2019ll point to one-hit wonder Paul Menard, whose only Cup victory in 471 starts came at Indy in 2011.<\/p>\n

In Wallace\u2019s case, however, the victory has a different feel, perhaps as the jumping-off point for bigger and better achievements. After all, the list of past Brickyard winners is heavily populated with current and future NASCAR Hall of Famers.<\/p>\n

Like his car at the end of Sunday\u2019s race, Wallace almost certainly has more fuel in his tank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 On Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Bubba Wallace took a giant step toward stardom. As the NASCAR Cup Series drivers lined up for the first of two overtimes, however, the script wasn\u2019t trending in the direction of a Wallace victory in the Brickyard 400. The driver of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":53692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[414,16],"class_list":["post-53748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-bubba-wallace","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-dYU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53676,"url":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/27\/bubba-wallace-wins-brickyard-400-in-double-overtime-thriller\/","url_meta":{"origin":53748,"position":0},"title":"Bubba Wallace wins Brickyard 400 in double-overtime thriller","author":"racedaysaeditor","date":"July 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPEEDWAY, Ind.\u2014Mother Nature wasn\u2019t going to deprive Bubba Wallace of the most important win of his career, not on this Sunday afternoon. 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