- Bubba Wallace shared several moments with his family after winning the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. It sparked a message from IndyCar’s Scott McLaughlin.
INDIANAPOLIS — Bubba Wallace claimed his first NASCAR Cup Series win at the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, the third victory of his career, and even after taking the lead on Lap 143 had his own doubts.
“The last 20 laps, there were ups and downs of me telling myself I wasn’t going to be able to do it,” he said.
The race broadcast shared fuel concerns, one that even Denny Hamlin was unsure of, but Wallace did a burnout after crossing the bricks first after a red flag for rain in Turn 1 that lasted 18 minutes, and then a second overtime. Wallace was able to kiss the bricks with his wife, Amanda, and their son, Becks, who was two days shy of being 10 months old.
A photo shortly after was shared on Twitter, and IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin had a heartfelt message. McLaughlin had finished, key word of late as he poked fun at recapping his own race, 10th at the IndyCar race at Laguna Seca, which was won by Alex Palou before the Brickyard 400 wrapped up despite a later start time.
“This guy is the best dad,” McLaughlin wrote on Twitter. “Has been going through it with the racing gods. Always one of the first people to text me if we have a bad day. So happy for Bdub, a great dude and I hope the haters enjoyed that.”
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McLaughlin’s 10th-place finish ended a drought of consecutive races with DNFs. He crashed on Lap 1 of Iowa Race 2 and again on Lap 3 at Toronto, finishing 26th in both races. McLaughlin sits tied for 11th with Rinus VeeKay (259 points) in the championship standings in what’s become a Palou runaway (590) with a slim margin for Pato O’Ward (469) to catch him.
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