Bubba Wallace Makes History: First Black Driver Wins Brickyard 400 at Indy

Indianapolis – Bubba Wallace celebrated a historic victory at the Brickyard 400, marking a milestone in his career and in the history of motorsports. After getting out of the number 23 car, Wallace, with his fists in the air, shared the joy with his family, savoring every moment of this transcendental triumph. Wallace, 31, overcame various challenges during the race, including an 18-minute rain delay, two exciting overtime periods, concerns about fuel, and the intense competition from defending champion Kyle Larson. This victory makes him the first African-American driver to win a major race on the 2.5-mile oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This victory is truly special. Coming out of turn 4, I knew I would make it, unless we ran out of gas. I was surprised I wasn’t crying like a baby.

Bubba Wallace

This is Wallace’s third win in the NASCAR Cup, and the first in one of the series’ four most prestigious events, along with the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500. In addition, he broke a 100-race winless streak dating back to 2022 in Kansas, securing a place in the playoffs. His other victory was at Talladega in 2021. The final difference was 0.222 seconds, but the tension was palpable.

Larson cut a 5.057-second deficit to approximately three seconds with six laps to go, when the yellow flag appeared due to rain. The cars stopped on pit road with four laps remaining, forcing Wallace to rethink his restart strategy. Wallace remained focused and managed to overtake Larson on the second turn during the first restart. An accident behind him caused a second overtime, forcing his team to calculate whether they had enough fuel to finish the race or if he needed to concede the lead and refuel. For Wallace, there was no other option.

The first thing I thought was, ‘Here we go again.’ But then I said, ‘I want to win this outright. I want to race again.’ And here we are.

Bubba Wallace

Wallace once again got the better of Larson on the restart and pulled away, preventing Larson from becoming the fourth consecutive winner of the race. The victory also eased the frustration Wallace felt on Saturday, when he spent most of the qualifying session in provisional pole, only to see Chase Briscoe claim the first starting position on one of the last laps of the session. The triumph added an extra boost to the 23XI Racing team, co-owned by Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and last week’s race winner, Denny Hamlin, as they continue their legal battle with NASCAR over their ownership status. Wallace’s victory at the Brickyard 400 is a memorable moment in his career, and a testament to his perseverance and skill on the track.