Wallace Battles Larson, Self For Brickyard Win

Photo by Matt Fraser/Penske Entertainment

By Dennis Krause

Over the last 20 laps of Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, dark thoughts of self doubt crept into Bubba Wallace’s head while leading one of the crown jewel events in NASCAR’s Cup Series.

“I’ll say those last 20 laps there was ups and downs of telling myself, You’re not going to be able to do it. I hate that I’m that way. I push myself to be the absolute best. When the caution came out, my spotter — love him to death — he said, the 12 got clear of the pack, keep making pace. I said, Okay, so it’s going to be me and (Ryan) Blaney here.

“Caution comes out. Blaney is nowhere to be found, and it’s the 5. I’m like, What the hell is he talking about? Once I seen that it was (Kyle) Larson, I knew I would have to roll the sleeves up. He won here last year, and he’s arguably the best in the field. I have no problem saying that. I respect the hell out of what he does, how he drives. He pushes us all to be that good.

“So to beat the best, we had to be the best today. We were able to come out on top.”

The self doubt is an issue that Wallace has been dealt with before.

“I don’t know, man. I wish I had the answer to that. 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.

“At the same time, I was combatting, and I’m like, f***** right, we can do this. 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, Man, come on, focus.

“That 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.”

Wallace had been leading Larson by four-seconds when a brief, spotty rain shower in turn 1 of the legendary 2.5-mile oval brought out the red flag six laps short of the checkered flag.

Sitting on pit road for 18-minutes gave Wallace plenty of time to be alone with his thoughts.

“I will say the first thing that came to my mind is, here we go again. If it rains and it ends, Lord have mercy, Twitter’s going to blow up. I said that for a second, but then I was like, man, I really want to win this straight up. I want to go back racing. So I was content with it going on. I was bummed that we gave up that lead, but here we are.

“We had an official standing there, and I was trying to read his body language. My crew was over there. Then you see media members start to get on pit road, and I’m like, All right, what’s happening here? I’m trying to look, like, down into turn 1. Is it raining? I’m looking at the black pit boxes to see if I see anything. I don’t see anything.

“So this whole time I’m trying to balance, are we going, are we not, are we going, are we not? I will say I leaned more towards I know we’re going to go back racing. Be ready. Don’t get complacent here. Yeah, that was kind of that.”

When NASCAR gave the OK to go back racing, Wallace had to perform not one, but two perfect restarts in overtime to claim his first Cup Series win in three years.

“The first one, I caught everybody sleeping, and I didn’t have the help from the 24 (William Byron). So Larson put up a good fight through turn 2, and caution came out. Larson picked up on my gains. So you always have to have tools in the toolbox to try to one-up each other. I was able to get kind of an edge, and he didn’t have help. Byron’s probably laying off me to not push, but it was kind of more of a traditional drag race into turn 1. The tires felt better for me to just trust the car and stay in the throttle, and he had to lift.

“Yeah, I was kind of glad we had the second restart because everything just kind of came together better. But it’s in those moments where either you s*** or get off the pot, as they say. In the last run, it’s like you’re going to give this away. The other side was like you got this. You’re about to show everybody why you belong here, and we did that.”

Photo by Titus Slaughter/Penske Entertainment

23XI Racing team co-owner, Denny Hamlin, says he’s noticed a change in Wallace since the middle of last season - a change in attitude and work ethic.

“His peaks and valleys weren’t — he shallowed that up,” Hamlin noted. “His valleys weren’t as low. I think it seemed like on the bad days he was able to compartmentalize that and then think about the positives versus everything sucks all the time. That’s a tough way to live.

“We’re in a business where if you can win 5 percent of the time, you’re a Hall of Famer. You’re going to lose. This is a losing business, and you have to find happiness in some other way other than actually winning. Mike Ford told me that early in my career, and that was the best advice I’ve ever been given. It’s something that certainly needed to be told to Bubba that you’ve got to find these little goals that you feel good about because it’s tough out there.

“We’re going to give you everything we can for you to go out there and compete. I’m going to give you the same car I’ve got week in and week out, but it’s up to you to put in the work and it’s up to you to want it, and then let your abilities go from there. It just seems over the last 12 months the performance is definitely better.”

Photo by Aaron Skillman/Penske Entertainment

So who is this guy who qualified on the outside of the front row for the race and straight up beat Larson on two overtime restarts?

“A guy with a beautiful wife, a beautiful son, and just fortunate enough to be driving race cars,” Wallace said. “Putting family first, that’s all that matters. Makes things easier. It gives you something to kind of focus onto. The racing stuff is kind of secondary now, and you have to go through a mental shift to say that, especially for me.

“I remember when Amanda and I first started dating. I was like, Hey, racing is everything. Right? I knew I made a mistake saying that. It took me all these years to realize, like, this isn’t always going to be here, so I think it’s better to enjoy the moments like this, but nothing can overcome the joy, the times that you have with your family at home in a private setting. Then you just so happen to be a race car driver on Sundays.

“That’s kind of how I look at it. I’m enjoying life. I enjoy being here at the racetrack with all you guys, making fun of what Jordan wears each and every week. I say it about once a year to myself. I have a really cool f****** job. It’s not even a job. A cool hobby.”

Wallace commented that the day felt surreal to him - and not just after the race.

“I don’t know. I woke up, and I’ve been reading this book, “The Daily Stoic.” I don’t read it every day. Luckily, it’s just one-pagers. So I’ll let, like, a week or so go by, and I’ll catch up. It just kind of got me in the philosophical mindset today, trying to understand things from a different perspective.

“Walking out of the motorhome, I felt different. Walking into the drivers meeting and finding a seat by myself, pulling up my phone and looking at my race notes of what to do, what to expect. (IMS President) Doug (Boles) has been a huge supporter of mine, and I appreciate that.

“So when he was speaking, he mentioned a caveat, and I thought it was interesting. He said, This could be the start of becoming a legend. I don’t think I’m a legend by any means. I’ve got a lot of work to do, but it all starts with days like today.

“I eyeballed the trophy, the museum trophy. I really thought that was the trophy we were getting. I love this one. This one is awesome. This one is great, but damn, I seen the museum one, and I’m, like, I want that one. We just built a house, and we built a trophy case. My wife built it. Well, she didn’t build it herself, but she designed it. And we need some trophies to put in there.

“And (crew chief) Charles (Denike) did say before I fired the motor up, he said, You know why we build trophy cases? To fill it with trophies. So we got us one. I wanted it today. I want it each and every weekend, but things just happened and fell in line, and I was able to capitalize on the opportunity.”

And the passage from ‘The Daily Stoic” that has resonated with Wallace?

“The wise doesn’t have problems,” Wallace recalled. “The wise doesn’t have problems.” And then the other one is, “We’re always caught up in things we have to do instead of the things we get to do.” It gives you a perspective of you’re late for work, and you catch a red light, and you’re frustrated. Well, now I get 30 more seconds of listening to my favorite song in the car, you know? I’m, like, that’s really interesting, but I’m still late for work,

“It’s like, that’s really cool. We never look at those things. We’re always like, I got to do this, I got to do this, I got to do this, instead of the opposite of, well, this didn’t happen. I get to do this instead. I thought that was pretty interesting.”

Photo by John Gainda/Penske Entertainment

One of the first things Wallace said over the team radio after taking the checkered flag was to thank everyone who believed in him. Afterwards, Wallace said it wasn’t possible to sum up what that support means to him as he shared his moment of triumph with them.

“No. I don’t live in your mind. You don’t live in my mind. We’re all different. We’re all created here to serve somewhat of a purpose. We may never know what that purpose is, but we fulfill our duties each and every day searching for that purpose, right?

“I’m super hard on myself. I see (23XI teammate) Tyler (Reddick) having a lot of success with the team, and you wonder like, Man, how in the hell do they keep getting these opportunities? It’s showing up. Charles says it best. Just keep believing in yourself, and he’s never let me get off that path. Yes, I’ll take a detour for a second, but it’s not lingering.

“Throughout the last three years of the ups and downs, the fights, the arguments you have back in the shop, wanting this, wanting that, it’s never easy. It’s never easy for Larson, who wins, or for Denny, who wins. It’s never easy. So you just have to trust the process and trust the journey that you’re on. However it may come out, you’ve always got to stay up and stay hungry and stay humble.”

What did it mean to Wallace when Larson came to the victory podium to congratulate him?

“Game recognizes game, and it’s a sign of respect. Like I said, I respect the hell out of what Larson does. I wish I had that talent. I said this in the past. You can’t be jealous of someone else’s success. It happens quicker for others. You just have to trust the process and enjoy the journey.

“Yeah, I’ve got to work harder to get to where he’s at, and it’s days like this where you see it pay off. At the end of the day, when you go up and congratulate somebody, it’s just game recognizing game.”

For the time being, the dark thoughts of self doubt had been vanquished.

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.

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