INDIANAPOLIS — Amid the formality of the NASCAR Cup pre-race drivers meeting, Doug Boles had a message for competitors.
The president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway noted that this year marked the 30th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s 1995 victory at the track, Boles then highlighted Tony Stewart’s win here in 2005 and Kyle Busch’s victory in 2015 at the Brickyard.
“So the people that win on the fives tend to be iconic people in our sport,” Boles said to the drivers. “Hopefully, you are already right on your way to being iconic or at the beginning of that. And you look back at the Brickyard 400 … and think it started right here.”
Boles’ message resonated with a driver.
The one who bear hugged him after a 420-mile Sunday drive — in a race extended by two overtimes.
“I heard all that you said in the drivers meeting,” Bubba Wallace told Boles after Wallace scored his third career Cup victory and snapped a 100-race winless streak. “I thought I’m going to be the guy that wins and makes this an iconic event.”
A different viewpoint
When Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan hired Wallace to be the team’s first driver ahead the 2021 season, Hamlin said Sunday that “I believed in his capability, not necessarily the results that (he’d) shown, but I understood his potential.”
Unlocking that potential was another thing.
“It was kind of a time where we were wrestling like, ‘Man do I want it worse than him or not,’” Hamlin said of Wallace. “I can’t make him want it. … That’s gong to have to come from within.”
Hamlin saw Wallace start to show that increased drive the next year when Kurt Busch joined the team and again when Tyler Reddick came to 23XI Racing in 2023 — teammates providing motivation.
Even so, Wallace didn’t win. His last Cup victory came in 2022.
“We want to win and we put a lot of resources into doing that,” Hamlin said. “So he’s felt pressure. I think he’s felt the pressure not only from me but Michael and everyone.”
Although Wallace missed the playoffs last year for the third time in four seasons at 23XI Racing, Hamlin said he saw a change in the driver.
“His valleys weren’t as low,” Hamlin said. “It seemed like on the bad days, he was able to compartmentalize that and then think about the positives vs. everything sucks all the time.
“That’s a tough way to live. We’re in a business that if you can win 5% of the time you’re a Hall of Famer. You’re going to lose. This is a losing business. You have to find happiness in some other way than actually winning.”
The change happened around the time Wallace became a father.
“Putting family first, that’s all that matters,” Wallace said. “Makes things easier. It gives you something to kind of focus onto.”
A new voice
With the pressure to succeed, Wallace faced another challenge this season. The team hired Charles Denike, who had no Cup experience, to be Wallace’s crew chief.
From the beginning, Hamlin touted Denike, a former military officer as a game-changer for Wallace.
Wallace started the season strong. Winning seemed likely.
But then it didn’t come. Even after being among the leaders in stage points early in the season, Wallace found himself in the same place he has been in past summers — at or near the playoff cutline late in the regular season.
Entering Sunday’s race at Indianapolis, Wallace held the final playoff spot by 16 points on Ryan Preece.
The 23XI Racing driver held off Kyle Larson on multiple restarts in overtime.
Adding to the pressure was the weather that changed the weekend schedule for teams.
Rain canceled Friday’s 50-minute practice, so NASCAR gave teams a 25-minute session Saturday. Even a 2.5-mile track can be crowded with traffic and not give teams a good read on their qualifying setup. With track position key, qualifying carries a heightened importance.
But Wallace told Denike before qualifying: “I don’t completely know what I have in the car.”
“This is superstar qualifying,” Denike told Wallace. “This is what we show up to do.”
Wallace qualified second. He would be a contender in Sunday’s race.
Quieting the doubts
Wallace was strong all race. He had the best average running position (4.93) of any driver Sunday and led 30 laps.
Denike’s strategy kept Wallace toward the front and gave him a shot to win.
That forced others to react.
When the third stage began 55 laps from the scheduled end, leader Kyle Larson was told not to save fuel. Crew chief Cliff Daniels wanted Larson to build a gap between he and Wallace, who was running sixth after the restart but had had pitted later than Larson and many others ahead. That meant Wallace needed less time for his final pit stop because he didn’t require as much fuel as others.
Here’s what NASCAR drivers were saying after the 23XI Racing driver’s victory in the crown jewel event.
Wallace moved to the lead at Lap 143 as others pitted in what became a 168-lap race after the two overtimes.
Although he led, thoughts of losing struck him.
Why would he think that?
“I wish I had the answer to that,” Wallace said. “I think that’s my biggest downfall. We’re all human, and we’re all super hard on ourselves.”
He found a way to counter those negative thoughts.
“I’m like, (expletive) right, we can do this,” Wallace said. “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.’”
Dueling a champion
Wallace led when rain in Turn 1 stopped the race four laps from the scheduled distance. Most of the track didn’t get wet but Turn 1 had enough rain it took NASCAR stopped the race fro 18 minutes to dry that part of the speedway.
When the race resumed, Wallace had Larson aligned next to him on the front row.
Wallace and Larson ran side by side into Turn 1 on the restart before Wallace pulled ahead at the exit of Turn 2.
“He was first gear on both (of the overtime restarts),” Larson said, “but the first one, he was just a little bit faster paced for the restart zone. I stayed second gear and he got a launch and I was able to just kind of barely hang on his right rear quarter and then drag him back and kind of pull my momentum.”
But it wasn’t enough to get by Wallace.
A crash on the backstretch gave Larson another chance with a second overtime restart.
Cup drivers recap Indianapolis race won by Wallace
Hear from Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace following the NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis.
Wallace had to outduel Larson — who won this race last year — on another restart to have a chance to win.
On the second restart, Wallace took the lead easily by Turn 2 on Larson.
The difference was a tactical change Wallace made on his restart that Larson could not counter.
“He brought the pace down so slow I had to be in first gear as well (as Wallace) and just kind of launched with him,” Larson said. “So I had no momentum that time.”
As Wallace race to the finish line, there were no negative thoughts. He credits reading “The Daily Stoic,” a book that states is designed to help make people happier, along with better parents and professionals.
“It just kind of got me in the philosophical mindset today, trying to understand things from a different perspective,” Wallace said.
“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. Doug (Boles) has been a huge supporter of mine, and I appreciate that.
“So when he was speaking, he mentioned a caveat (about the victories by Earnhardt, Stewart and Busch at this track), 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.”
