Bubba Wallace reacts to first stage win in ‘ten years’ at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Bubba Wallace finished fifth in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a much-needed quality run with now just four regular season races remaining.

Wallace entered Sunday’s race 27 points back of the playoff cutline, but now heads into the two-week Olympic break within seven points of Ross Chastain for the 16th and final playoff spot. Wallace also picked up a Stage 2 win which granted him some valuable playoff points, his first stage victory since 2022.

Though he admitted after the race he put his team behind the eight ball in practice and qualifying, he’s proud of how he and his team fought on Sunday.

Bubba Wallace heading into Olympic break with momentum

A top-five finish for Bubba Wallace puts him within just SEVEN POINTS of the cut line with four races remaining before the playoffs. #Brickyard400 pic.twitter.com/r3kKfv8zHT

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 21, 2024

“It was OK,” Wallace told NBC Sports after the race. “I really put our team behind starting Friday and Saturday, just not doing a good job in the car. Team stuck with me and gave me all the right tools to work on, gave us good track position there in the middle. Finally got us a stage win, been 10 years since I got one of those. But all in all, just a solid day. Definitely what we needed.

“Have a big sigh of relief going into the Olympic break. Excited to watch that. A lot of exciting things going on during the break. [Tyler] Reddick getting married, we’ll be there for that. [Daniel] Suarez getting married. So, congrats to them. But yeah, it’s just nice to come out here with a smile, enjoy the two off weeks, get to go home and see my well pregnant wife, give her a big hug, big baby boy a big hug. Just to have fun. That’s what I wanted to do last week and just continue that the next 14 left. All about having fun.”

As Wallace inches closer to Chastain, the reality is now he can possibly make it through without winning a race. A month ago, that didn’t seem realistic, but strong runs in recent weeks have changed his outlook. Wallace finished P7 at Nashville, P13 at Chicago and P10 at Pocono before his run at IMS.