The NASCAR Cup Series visited Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday in the Brickyard 400 Presented by PPG. Chase Briscoe started the race on the pole, with Bubba Wallace starting second.
Chase Briscoe led the opening 19 laps until the caution came out when Ross Chastain spun at Turn 3 after making contact with Michael McDowell. Most of the drivers went to pit road, while Austin Cindric and Joey Logano stayed out. They led the field to the restart on lap 23.
On lap 42, Austin Cindric made a pit stop, and Chase Briscoe was the new leader. Briscoe went on to win the first stage over Bubba Wallace and William Byron. Most teams went to pit road except for Ryan Preece, Alex Bowman, and five others. Preece and Bowman led the field to start the second stage on lap 59.
On lap 66, Cindric passed Preece for the lead. However, on lap 84, Cindric’s car suffered a flat right rear. Joey Logano briefly had the lead before Bubba Wallace to the lead all on the same lap. On lap 90, Erik Jones’s car experienced a catastrophic failure as his right front wheel came apart and crashed at Turn 3.
Most of the drivers went to pit road except for Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski. They led the field to the restart on lap 97. Ryan Blaney led the last three laps to win the second stage over Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin.
Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin were on the front row to start the final stage on lap 106. Later in the race, Bubba Wallace to the lead on lap 143 after everyone made pit stops. Kyle Larson was sitting in second place and began to reduce the gap.
On lap 155, rain began to fall on parts of the racetrack to bring out the caution. The rain would let up, and the race went to overtime. Bubba Wallace cleared Kyle Larson for the lead on lap 162. Behind them, the caution came out after Christopher Bell turned Zane Smith, leading to a multi-car crash involving Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and Jesse Love.
The final restart happened on lap 167. Wallace cleared Larson at Turn 1. Some drivers ran out of fuel, including William Byron. Bubba Wallace held off Kyle Larson to win his first race of the season by 0.222 seconds. He ended a 100-race winless streak, and it was his third career win in the Cup Series.
Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five. Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top ten. There were six cautions for 28 laps, and 15 lead changes among 10 drivers. Wallace led 30 laps, and Austin Cindric led the most laps (40).
The Cup Series heads to Iowa Speedway next Sunday at 3:30 pm on USA Network.
