Bubba Wallace wins Brickyard 400 in double OT, clinches NASCAR playoff berth

Bubba Wallace clinched a crucial victory Sunday in the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, surviving a rain delay, two overtime restarts and a big gamble on having enough fuel to finish the race and secure his spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Wallace, driving the No. 23 Toyota, was comfortably ahead of Kyle Larson with four laps remaining in regulation when a sudden downpour forced NASCAR to issue the fifth caution of the afternoon. The rain quickly subsided, and after a brief stoppage to dry the track, Wallace pulled ahead of Larson on the first overtime restart. A five-car pileup on the backstretch, however, sent the race into a second extra period.

Wallace remained on the track for the subsequent restart, gambling on his fuel supply. He again pulled away from Larson and took the white flag without incident. After one more lap, he crossed the finish line 0.222 seconds ahead of Larson, claiming his third career victory and ending a 100-race winless streak dating back to Sept. 11, 2022, at Kansas Speedway.

Wallace led 30 laps, including the final 26, as the race extended eight laps beyond the scheduled 160.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m just so proud of this team,” Wallace said. “That adrenaline rush is crazy, ’cause I’m coming off that right now — and I’m worn out.”

After embracing his wife, Amanda, and holding his 10-month-old son, Becks, aloft for the cheering crowd, Wallace added, “It’s unbelievable. To win here at the Brickyard, knowing how big this race is, knowing all the noise that’s going on in the background, to set that all aside is a testament to these people here on this 23 team. It’s been getting old right around the cut line (for the Playoffs).”

Wallace, who started on the front row alongside pole winner Chase Briscoe, consistently ran in the Top 5, but did not take control of the race until after pitting on Lap 119 during a cycle of green-flag stops in the final stage. He took the lead for good when Ryan Blaney pitted on Lap 142 and held an advantage of more than five seconds after all stops cycled through. Although Larson gained ground on Wallace, he wasn’t in a position to challenge for the win until the rain.

Larson, the defending Brickyard 400 winner, acknowledged Wallace’s strong restarts. “There’s nothing you can do here to pass, so, no, I don’t really think there was anything I could do differently,” Larson said. “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 frontstretch. 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.”

Denny Hamlin, co-owner of Wallace’s 23XI Racing team with Michael Jordan, finished third despite crashing in Turn 2 during qualifying and starting the race from the rear in a backup car.

In the finals of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge, Ty Gibbs claimed the $1 million prize by finishing 21st to Ty Dillon‘s 28th. Gibbs announced he would donate $10,000 to a charity of Dillon’s choice.

“One million is a lot of money, so I’m going to donate $10,000 to whichever charity Ty Dillon wants to give to,” Gibbs said. “It’s his choice. But we had a fast SAIA LTL Freight Toyota Camry. Didn’t end up where we wanted to in the end. We just lost track position and (were out of the running) to win the race.”

Ryan Preece finished fourth, but remains 42 points below the current elimination line for the Playoffs with four races left in the regular season. Brad Keselowski was fifth, marking his third Top 5 finish of the season.

Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and Carson Hocevar completed the top 10. Austin Cindric led a race-high 40 laps, while Briscoe led 34.

William Byron‘s attempt to reclaim the series lead from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott faltered on the final lap. Byron took the green flag for the final overtime restart in third but ran out of fuel, dropping to 16th at the finish. Byron trails Elliott by four points in the regular-season championship chase, with Larson 15 points back in third.

Brickyard 400

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Speedway, Indiana
Sunday, July 27, 2025

1. (2) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 168.
2. (13) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 168.
3. (39) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 168.
4. (23) Ryan Preece, Ford, 168.
5. (14) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 168.
6. (19) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 168.
7. (24) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 168.
8. (16) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 168.
9. (21) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 168.
10. (8) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 168.
11. (28) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 168.
12. (36) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 168.
13. (30) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 168.
14. (7) Chris Buescher, Ford, 168.
15. (10) Austin Cindric, Ford, 168.
16. (6) William Byron, Chevrolet, 168.
17. (38) Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 168.
18. (1) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 168.
19. (11) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 168.
20. (29) Cole Custer, Ford, 168.
21. (5) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 168.
22. (17) Josh Berry, Ford, 168.
23. (9) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 167.
24. (35) Jesse Love(i), Chevrolet, 167.
25. (12) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 166.
26. (25) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 166.
27. (31) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 165.
28. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 165.
29. (4) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, Accident, 163.
30. (22) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 162.
31. (27) Zane Smith, Ford, Accident, 161.
32. (15) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 160.
33. (18) Noah Gragson, Ford, 153.
34. (37) Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, Electrical, 125.
35. (32) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 101.
36. (3) Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 89.
37. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, Fatigue, 58.
38. (20) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 56.
39. (33) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 17.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 124.598 mph. Time of Race: 3 hours, 22 minutes, 15 seconds. Margin of Victory: .222 seconds. Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps. Lead Changes: 15 among 10 drivers.