Cup Series: Bubba Wallace breaks 100-race winless streak in prestigious Brickyard 400

Sean McKean
Jul 27
5 min read

Written by Sean McKean

Credit: Justin Casterline / Getty Images

In a rain-affected, overtime thriller, it was Bubba Wallace who won his first Crown Jewel race, the Brickyard 400. It was his third career win and first one since September 2022 in Kansas.

As it unfolded

From his fifth pole of the year, Chase Briscoe led the way and maintained the lead after Lap 1. Aside from Tyler Reddick taking second from his teammate Bubba Wallace, the start was uneventful.

Ross Chastain hit the outside wall hard in Turn 3 on Lap 18. This came after Chastain received a rather aggressive tap from Michael McDowell behind, which saw the No. 1 car rear the outside wall. Chastain retired from the race following this incident.

All but three drivers – Austin Cindric, Joey Logano and Josh Berry – came into pit road for two tyres and fuel. Briscoe came out first ahead of Wallace and Reddick.

Cindric restarted with the lead and cleared teammate Logano decisively.

Logano eventually came down pit road on Lap 42. Cindric and Berry each followed one lap later. Although he pitted originally, Erik Jones followed the trio down pit road before stage’s end. This allowed Chase Briscoe to take the lead back.

Briscoe held on to win the first stage with a solid gap to Wallace and William Byron behind.

Stage 1 Results:

No. 19 - Chase Briscoe (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 23 - Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing)
No. 24 - William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 45 - Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing)
No. 17 - Chris Buescher (RFK Racing)
No. 8 - Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing)
No. 77 - Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports)
No. 5 - Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 3 - Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing)
No. 16 - AJ Allmendinger (Kaulig Racing)

Aside from the four aforementioned drivers in stage one, the field came down pit road during the break – with the exception of Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece and Justin Haley. Of this bunch, Carson Hocevar came out first with a two-tyre call ahead of four-tyred Briscoe and Byron.

Preece led the way on the Lap 56 restart whilst Ricky Stenhouse Jr. collided with a driver in the back and sustained damage.

Preece and Bowman eventually had to come down pit road for fuel and tyres on Lap 63. Austin Cindric then assumed the lead.

Just as a few green flag stops began with William Byron, Cole Custer cut a tyre on the back stretch. He limped back to pit road without spewing debris, luckily.

Shockingly, amidst pit stops, a flat rear-right tyre befell the leader Austin Cindric on Lap 84. The tyre carcass began coming apart on the back stretch as Logano, Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs came down pit road, anticipating a caution. The caution never came whilst Bubba Wallace assumed the lead.

Once pit stops cycled through, Chase Briscoe led once more followed by Tyler Reddick.

On Lap 91, with ten laps to go in the stage, Erik Jones brought out the second caution for cause. Going into Turn 3, the right-front tyre came clean off his Legacy Motor Club car, causing him to slam the outside wall hard. This effectively ended the No. 43’s day.

A few drivers to the pits under the yellow, including Briscoe, Reddick and Christopher Bell. John Hunter Nemechek came out first of this bunch ahead of Bell and Briscoe.

The race restarted on Lap 97 with four laps remaining in the stage. Ryan Blaney led over the pack whilst Kyle Larson muscled his way into second.

The stage concluded without incident. Blaney held on to win followed by Larson and Denny Hamlin.

Stage 2 Results:

No. 12 - Ryan Blaney (Team Penske)
No. 5 - Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 11 - Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 24 - William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 6 - Brad Keselowski (RFK Racing)
No. 48 - Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 77 - Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports)
No. 22 - Joey Logano (Team Penske)
No. 17 - Chris Buescher (RFK Racing)
No. 23 - Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing)

Immediately after the green-white chequered flag, Blaney came back down pit road, as he ran out of fuel.

With fuel-saving at the forefront, Larson led the way on the Lap 106 restart.

Green flag pit stops formally began on Lap 118 with William Byron. The leaders eventually followed suit on Lap 122. Although Larson remained ahead of those in his pack, Joey Logano cycled into the lead – having undercut all of them by six laps.

However, the provisionally leading car, Logano, suffered a flat right-rear tyre on the back stretch with 26 laps remaining. This handed control of the race to Bubba Wallace whilst four cars remained ahead of them on differing strategies.

One lap later, the on-track top two of Justin Haley and Brad Keselowski came down pit road. With Blaney finally pitting six laps later, Bubba Wallace assumed the provisional and on-track lead.

Wallace had a healthy lead over Larson when the caution came out with six laps to go for rain. This eventually turned into a red flag that lasted 45 minutes.

When the red flag turned into yellow, the only major contender to come down pit road was Tyler Reddick.

Wallace and Larson restarted at the front in overtime. The two battled hard on the back stretch, but a crash in the back brought out the caution again. Zane Smith got turned into the outside wall, and without anywhere to go, Tyler Reddick hit the Front Row driver hard. Whilst spinning down the track, Smith hit Logano’s car as well, breaking the toe link. Smith and Reddick went out of the race from this incident.

There were no takers for pit road under this caution.

Once again, Wallace and Larson led the second overtime attempt, with Wallace clearing the 2021 champion after Turn 1.

Despite having much less fuel than Larson, Bubba Wallace hung on to win his first Brickyard 400.

Provisional Results: