Skip to main content
Join Now
NASCAR Logo

Kyle Busch gives Bubba Wallace a push to pit road after running out of fuel at Indianapolis

JHby:Jonathan Howard•07/22/24•

Jondean25

Bubba Wallace
Bob Goshert/For IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Once the Brickyard 400 concluded, a lot of drivers were low or just plain out of fuel. Bubba Wallace was one of them. Thankfully, the NASCAR garage is one big family and Kyle Busch came from P25 to help Wallace get back to pit road.

Kyle Busch was running in the top-10 late in the Brickyard 400 but wrecked. He did manage to avoid a DNF, and finished P25. Honestly, at this point, he has to take that as a win.

Bubba Wallace ended up finishing P5 on the day. It was a great finish for him and allowed him to get within 7 points of Ross Chastain for the final playoff spot.

Rowdy decided to help Bubba out and gave him a pushback to pit road. The two had a fist bump afterward.

Even after a disappointing day on the track, Kyle Busch had a little kindness to show his fellow competitor. That is a big deal. Let’s not forget that Wallace used to be a Kyle Busch Motorsports driver. Wallace won five total races for KBM in 2013 and 2014.

This is another example of Busch in his newer role as an elder statesman in the Cup Series. He used to be that wild young guy in the series, causing trouble, getting into fights, and causing a commotion.

Lately, really since the Next Gen car was introduced, Busch has been in a different role. He calls out NASCAR on inconsistencies, he’s fairly open and honest to the media, and even if he criticizes young drivers, he does things like push Bubba Wallace to pit road after a race.

Bubba Wallace picking up points on the bubble

Bubba Wallace has finished in the top-10 in three of the last four races. He would have had a top-10 at Chicago, more than likely, had it not been for a spin in the race. His performances the last month have put him seven points from the final playoff spot, which belongs to Ross Chastain.

Now the NASCAR Cup Series goes on a two-week break, three weeks depending on how you count it, and there are promising tracks on the other side of that break. Richmond, Michigan, Daytona, and Darlington are all strong tracks for Wallace. They are also tracks where drivers make mistakes.

If the DNFs go his way, he avoids DNFs of his own, and he keeps earning stage points and strong finishes – he has a shot. It will be one of the biggest rallies, if not the biggest rally, to the playoffs if he does it on points.

Then again, the easy way in, or the hard way I’m not sure, is to win a race. Michigan, Daytona, and Darlington are races that I believe Wallace could win. He’s on a decently strong run, has momentum, why not?