Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Allow me to use Bubba Wallace’s win in Indy as an opportunity to plug my video on Indianapolis Motor Speedway once again.
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In today’s SI:AM:
🏎️ Bubba’s Brickyard win
🐴 Colts’ QB battle
🏴 England goes back-to-back
Big win for Bubba
Bubba Wallace is one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR, but entering Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it had been nearly three years since he’d won a race. Wallace snapped that drought, though, becoming the first Black driver to win any major race at the famed racetrack.
Wallace finished second in qualifying and ran in the top five for most of the race. He took the lead for the final time on the 143rd lap of the 160-lap race, but closing out the victory wasn’t easy. A rain shower caused the race to be halted briefly and a pair of late crashes led to a double-overtime finish (NASCAR’s way of ensuring that a race does not end under a caution flag). The two overtime restarts caused the race to run eight laps (20 miles) longer than initially planned, and there was concern that Wallace would run out of fuel before crossing the finish line. But Wallace managed to hold off a late charge from Kyle Larson and secure the victory.
Speaking on the TNT post-race show, Wallace was emotional when reflecting on his long wait to get back in the winner’s circle.
“It's been an incredibly fun but difficult journey,” Wallace said. “I’m thinking about when [Ryan] Blaney won the [Coca-Cola] 600 after being in a drought and says, ‘You don’t know if you can do it anymore,’ right? It’s going on three years and four years in the [No.] 23 [car]. My last one was in the 45. We did it. That’s the first thing my wife said to me because we did it. You don’t know how many times I told myself I couldn’t do it in those last 20 laps, and here we are.
“I thought under that first green-white checker, to be the best, you have to beat the best. We can all sit up here and say Kyle Larson is the best at the time right now. And it's an honor and a privilege to race with him. But I go back to what [team co-owner Michael Jordan] said last year at Darlington, things you want more cost more. Larson wasn't getting that from me, you know.”
The win snapped a 100-race winless streak for Wallace, whose last victory came at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 11, 2022. His only other victory in the NASCAR Cup Series was at Talladega in 2021.
The victory also guaranteed Wallace a spot in this season’s NASCAR playoffs, which will begin on Aug. 31 at Darlington. Making the playoffs has been a challenge for Wallace throughout his career. He qualified for the only time in his career in 2023 and was in contention on the final day of the regular season last year, ultimately falling just short. The relief of having locked up a playoff spot was visible on Wallace’s face after the race as he discussed it with the TNT crew. Now he can set his sights on adding to his trophy case.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Albert Breer’s report from Colts camp focuses on the quarterback battle between Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones.
- England repeated as women’s European champions with a win over Spain on Sunday. Theo Lloyd-Hughes was in Switzerland to witness it and writes that this victory was nothing like the Lionesses’ 2022 win.
- Lionel Messi missed Inter Miami’s match on Saturday (a 0–0 draw against FC Cincinnati) after being suspended for skipping the MLS All-Star Game. Ben Steiner believes the league had no choice but to ban Messi and set an example.
- Karl Rasmussen analyzed how the Yankees might approach the trade deadline now that Aaron Judge is on the injured list with an elbow issue.
- Royals pitcher Seth Lugo won’t be going anywhere at the trade deadline. He just agreed to a contract extension to keep him in Kansas City.
- Alyssa Thomas made WNBA history with another dominant game on Sunday.
The top five…
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Nikola Jokić’s emotional reaction to his horse winning a race in his native Serbia.
4. Jo Adell’s leaping catch to rob a homer.
3. Ichiro Suzuki’s joke about the Marlins during his Hall of Fame speech.
2. Leylah Fernandez’s quote about her diet after winning the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.
1. A stunning one-handed grab by BC Lions defensive back Robert Carter Jr. This is seriously one of the best catches you’ll ever see.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Emotional Bubba Wallace Makes History With Long-Awaited Brickyard 400 Win.
