Bubba Wallace becomes first Black driver to win major race on Indianapolis’ oval

After getting out of the No. 23 vehicle on Sunday, Bubba Wallace pounded his fists, looked for his family, and relished every moment of a historic Brickyard 400 triumph.

He was deserving of every second of it.

Wallace, 31, became the first Black driver to win a major race on the 2.5-mile oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after overcoming a shaky 18-minute rain delay, two thrilling overtimes, concerns about running out of fuel late, and the hard-charging reigning race champion, Kyle Larson, on back-to-back restarts. Formula 1 raced on the track’s road course, and no Black driver has ever won the Indianapolis 500.

According to Wallace, this one is pretty awesome. Unless we ran out of petrol, I knew I would arrive as I turned off Turn 4. I was shocked that I wasn’t crying uncontrollably.

Wallace’s first win in the four crown jewel events of the series—the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, and Southern 500—came from his third career NASCAR Cup victory. It also secured a postseason berth and ended a 100-race winless run that began in 2022 at Kansas. His only other victory occurred in 2021 at Talladega.

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Even though the final difference was only 0.222 seconds, he was still extremely upset.

As the yellow flag was raised for the rain, Larson reduced his lead from 5.057 seconds with 14 laps remaining to roughly three seconds with six laps remaining. With four laps left, the cars rolled to a stop in pit lane, making Wallace reevaluate his restart strategy.

I keep asking myself, “Are we going?” Do we not? “I said.” To be honest, I leaned more in the direction of knowing that we would return to the race. Prepare yourself. Here, don’t become complacent.

Wallace ensured it.

His crew had to recalculate whether they had enough fuel to finish the race or whether he needed to give up the lead and refuel after he beat Larson through the second turn on the first restart following a crash behind him that forced a second overtime.

There was no other option in Wallace’s thinking.

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He said, “Here we go again,” and that was the first thought that entered my head. “I want to win this straight up,” I said after that. I’d like to resume racing. Here we are.

He prevented Larson from becoming the fourth back-to-back winner of the race by beating him off the restart once more and pulling away.

Wallace’s irritation after spending the majority of the qualifying session on the provisional pole and seeing Chase Briscoe secure the top starting position with one of the final runs of the session was also lessened by the victory.

He ensured there would be no recurrence on Sunday, giving the 23XI Racing team—co-owned by basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, the winner of last week’s race—an extra boost as it continues to fight NASCAR in court over its charter status.

There were ups and downs during the final 20 laps, and I kept telling myself, “You won’t be able to do it,” Wallace recalled. As soon as I saw it was Larson, I knew he was undoubtedly the best in the field and had won here the year before. We have to be the greatest today in order to defeat the best.

Ty Gibbs won the other major event, the In-Season Challenge, with a superior car over Ty Dillon both in qualifying and on race day. Gibbs took home the $1 million prize after finishing 21st in the first-ever March Madness-style single-elimination tournament.

After starting the race as the 32nd and last driver, Dillon unexpectedly entered the championship round and ended in 28th place.

Gibbs, who also got a title belt and a ring, stated, “They brought me money guns and they jammed so I decided to take all the money and throw it to the fans and they were all wrestling and fighting over it.” But it’s really awesome. It’s a great chance.