NASCAR CUP SERIES: CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND - BRICKYARD 400 PRESENTED BY PPG

July 27, 2025

Bubba Wallace

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with post-race availability for the Brickyard 400. We're joined by our final visitor this evening, Bubba Wallace, the final winner of the Brickyard 400. Bubba, congratulations. Obviously this is a big win in your career, but it also walks you into the playoffs. It's truly just a big win for the team, in general. Denny was in here earlier. He talked a little bit about that bittersweet where he's so excited for you. Then as a driver, he knows how hard it is to win as well. Just take us through those emotions both in the car and then now that you've had a chance to celebrate a little bit.

BUBBA WALLACE: Yeah, thanks, guys. This one is really cool. I'm wore slap out, if you couldn't tell. I'm just proud of the team, proud of the effort put in each and every week, people pushing me to be better. The biggest thing that gets lost is believing in self.

I'll say those last 20 laps there was ups and downs of telling myself, You're not going to be able to do it. I hate that I'm that way. I push myself to be the absolute best. When the caution came out, my spotter -- love him to death -- he said, The 12 got clear of the pack, keep making pace. I said, Okay, so it's going to be me and Blaney here.

Caution comes out. Blaney is nowhere to be found, and it's the 5. I'm like, What the hell is he talking about? Once I seen that it was Larson, I knew I would have to roll the sleeves up. He won here last year, and he's arguably the best in the field. I have no problem saying that. I respect the hell out of what he does, how he drives. He pushes us all to be that good.

So to beat the best, we had to be the best today. We were able to come out on top. Today was a surreal feeling. Pre-race, I told Dale and those guys on TV, like, I rode around under the parade lap in the truck, and I just didn't hear any noise. It was very weird, something I've never experienced. I had the mentality that this was ours to take today.

I heard a lot of people say some good things that I kind of latched onto. Doug Boles, he mentioned 2005. Tony Stewart won 2015. Kyle Busch won. Legends win on the 5. I'm not calling myself a legend, but it worked out.

Just so thankful for the opportunity. I appreciate MJ, Denny, Curtis, Gene. There's so much going on, and we're able to just show up and compete. You guys ask each and every week, especially Jordan, You got any news on what's going on? I don't care. I just go out and race. All I've known for 23 years is just go and race, no matter what is being said, no matter how many points I'm up on the cut line. Yes, it's there, but when you strap the helmet on, you just go and drive and give it your absolute all.

I have nothing left in the tank. I had a little bit of fuel left in the tank, but just a monumental win for our team. I'm just proud to be holding the steering wheel for them.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A lot of times when people come in here, they're like, Man, it hasn't sunk in yet, it hasn't sunk in yet. Watching you out there -- I'm not trying to put words in your mouth -- but it feels like it sunk in very much, like you were absorbing it. I know you're exhausted to, but emotionally what has this last hour been like for you as you understand the gravity of what you just did?

BUBBA WALLACE: Just getting back into the swing of things. It's been about three years since I've done this. Coming off turn 4, I knew it was a good turn 4. I knew he wasn't going to get there, so I knew we won. Unless I ran out of gas early, that it was ours.

I'm quite surprised I wasn't crying like a little baby. I was I guess more relieved. I really thought this year started out way different than any other year. Mentally for sure it has, but here we are in the same spot before the race, same spot. Is Bubba Wallace going to make it in on the playoffs? I'm the last car in with five to go, six to go, whatever it is.

We're here. It's like, Damn, dude, what is it? Is it me? I said earlier it takes me back to when Blaney won the 600. You don't know if you're going to be able to do it again. Like I said when I sat down, those last 20 laps, it was probably 20 laps of telling myself, I'm not going to be able to do it. So I have found my biggest problem, and that's this. If I could shut that off mentally, fully, we could do a lot more of this.

So we keep pushing. Winning now, before the playoffs start, never done that before. There's a lot of new stuff for me, so I'm just taking it all in.

I've got the family here. It's incredible to have Becks win officially his first race and see his dad go to Victory Lane. That brings me a lot of joy. Amanda here, we lost our grandmother Friday night. So it's been a special weekend for us.

Our family is here in Indiana, so it's really cool to be able to do it.

Q. (Off microphone)

BUBBA WALLACE: I don't know, man. I wish I had the answer to that. I think that's my biggest downfall. We're all human, and we're all super hard on ourselves. You guys know how hard I am on myself.

At the same time, I was combatting, and I'm like, Fucking right, we can do this. It was kind of like the angel and devil on your shoulder. It wasn't all negative. But to even have that thought, it's like, Man, come on, focus.

That all went away on the restarts because it was time to really focus and get the job done. Yeah, just still working out those kinks and growing as a person. It's just really cool to be sitting here in front of you guys, so I appreciate it.

Q. You're a crown jewel race winner now. Denny said he noticed about this time last year a change in your mindset where the valleys just weren't as low anymore. You were able to kind of rein that in a little bit. I think it was also about this time last year that you came off the Chicago penalty and called that the best moment to happen to you in your entire life. This weekend you qualified second. You beat Larson straight up on two overtime restarts. Who is Bubba Wallace today after what the last year has brought you?

BUBBA WALLACE: A guy with a beautiful wife, a beautiful son, and just fortunate enough to be driving race cars. Putting family first, that's all that matters. Makes things easier. It gives you something to kind of focus onto. The racing stuff is kind of secondary now, and you have to go through a mental shift to say that, especially for me.

I remember when Amanda and I first started dating. I was like, Hey, racing is everything. Right? I knew I made a mistake saying that. It took me all these years to realize, like, this isn't always going to be here, so I think it's better to enjoy the moments like this, but nothing can overcome the joy, the times that you have with your family at home in a private setting. Then you just so happen to be a race car driver on Sundays.

That's kind of how I look at it. I'm enjoying life. I enjoy being here at the racetrack with all you guys, making fun of what Jordan wears each and every week. I say it about once a year to myself. I have a really cool fucking job. It's not even a job. A cool hobby. You guys are all living it with me, so it's cool. Thank you.

Q. On the cooldown lap when all the other competitors are banging your door and giving you the thumbs up, how validating and rewarding is that for you that your competitors are celebrating with you? It was most of them, too.

BUBBA WALLACE: Yeah, I guess I'm not too big of an asshole. I've got a couple buddies out there, so that was nice. I appreciate all the respect.

That's the thing over eight years in Cup, you race with a lot of these guys week in and week out. You build up the repertoire and respect for one another. You have good times, and you have bad times. Bowman came up, and I doored him. I hope I don't get a penalty for that. Hopefully the seat belts were tight.

But I appreciate that. Now growing up and maturing and knowing that for three hours we are just dog eat dog out there, just hard-nosed racing. It's fun. You get some joy. When it's all over with, hey, your my buddy won. I'm not saying I'm a buddy to everybody in the field, but, hey, good for you. I appreciate everyone that came up. I doored a couple of people, but that was really cool to see.

Q. You referenced the thing about what Doug said and Doug talked about. When you hugged him, that you brought it up to him. What was it about that, or why did those words resonate so much with you? I'm sure for a lot of people in the room it just went over their heads when he talked about the iconic thing, but that seems to be something that stuck in your mind and matters. Why so?

BUBBA WALLACE: I don't know. I woke up, and I've been reading this book, "The Daily Stoic." I don't read it every day. Luckily, it's just one-pagers. So I'll let, like, a week or so go by, and I'll catch up. It just kind of got me in the philosophical mindset today, trying to understand things from a different perspective.

Walking out of the motorhome, I felt different. Walking into the drivers meeting and finding a seat by myself, pulling up my phone and looking at my race notes of what to do, what to expect. Doug has been a huge supporter of mine, and I appreciate that.

So when he was speaking, he mentioned a caveat, and I thought it was interesting. He said, This could be the start of becoming a legend. I said, like I said, I don't think I'm a legend by any means. I've got a lot of work to do, but it all starts with days like today.

I eyeballed the trophy, the museum trophy. I really thought that was the trophy we were getting. I love this one. This one is awesome. This one is great, but damn, I seen the museum one, and I'm, like, I want that one. We just built a house, and we built a trophy case. My wife built it. Well, she didn't build it herself, but she designed it. And we need some trophies to put in there.

And Charles did say before I fired the motor up, he said, You know why we build trophy cases? To fill it with trophies. So we got us one. I wanted it today. I want it each and every weekend, but things just happened and fell in line, and I was able to capitalize on the opportunity.

Q. What was the most recent one-pager in "The Daily Stoic" that you read or that resonated with you, or is there anything that helps with a day like today?

BUBBA WALLACE: "The wise doesn't have problems." "The wise doesn't have problems." And then the other one is, "We're always caught up in things we have to do instead of the things we get to do." It gives you a perspective of you're late for work, and you catch a red light, and you're frustrated. Well, now I get 30 more seconds of listening to my favorite song in the car, you know? I'm, like, that's really interesting, but I'm still late for work,

It's like, that's really cool. We never look at those things. We're always like, I got to do this, I got to do this, I got to do this, instead of the opposite of, well, this didn't happen. I get to do this instead. I thought that was pretty interesting.

Q. You're leading the Brickyard 400 by a little over 4 seconds with under 10 laps to go.

BUBBA WALLACE: Damn, it was that much?

Q. Yeah. Larson was coming, but --

BUBBA WALLACE: No, he wasn't.

Q. It seemed like the race was yours, right? Then you get the caution.

BUBBA WALLACE: What a dick. Larson was coming (laughter).

Q. Your spotter said he was coming. He didn't think he maybe could pass you.

BUBBA WALLACE: I thought it was Blaney.

Q. You get that caution, and the lead that is pretty comfortable, it seems like, is gone. What's going through your mindset at that point?

BUBBA WALLACE: Damn. You know, I understood the reasoning. It was big splashes the last time through 1 and 2, and it was, like, okay. Then he says it's pouring by the time we get over there the next time. So it was like, Okay, I understand.

I will say the first thing that came to my mind is, here we go again. If it rains and it ends, Lord have mercy, Twitter's going to blow up. I said that for a second, but then I was like, man, I really want to win this straight up. I want to go back racing. So I was content with it going on. I was bummed that we gave up that lead, but here we are.

Q. Celebration afterwards. Talk to me about that. You get out. You do the hush thing obviously, but then did you hear the cheers? There was a lot of people cheering for you. You can say what you want about the boos, but a lot of people saying "Bubba." You hear, "Let's go Bubba." Talk me through that.

BUBBA WALLACE: It's sports, right? You're going to have people booing, people cheering. I had a guy today call me a punk. I was like, Okay, punks get trophies, I guess. It's sports. Some different than others, but I definitely heard the cheers, and I appreciated that.

It's something I've never -- not never -- something I've paid more attention to in the recent year, years, maybe months. I know there's a lot of Bubba Wallace fans out there and a lot of support. They try to combat the naysayers and all of this stuff. Does anybody know where the goal post got moved to now? Did it get moved yet? It's rigged? Oh, of course.

I like to have fun with fans. It is what it is, but I do really appreciate the support deep down. As a guy who used to struggle with the boos for sure, I'm just wondering why. Now I understand it's just sports, and people are going to have the drivers they like, the drivers they hate, the driver they want to see win, the drivers they want to see crash, and we just go out and compete.

I will say I didn't hear any noise today before the race. That was different. That was cool.

Q. During the 18 minutes --

BUBBA WALLACE: Is that what it was?

Q. Yes, 18 minutes sitting in the car on pit road. What was your inner monologue?

BUBBA WALLACE: We had an official standing there, and I was trying to read his body language. My crew was over there. Then you see media members start to get on pit road, and I'm like, All right, what's happening here? I'm trying to look, like, down into turn 1. Is it raining? I'm looking at the black pit boxes to see if I see anything. I don't see anything.

So this whole time I'm trying to balance, are we going, are we not, are we going, are we not? I will say I leaned more towards I know we're going to go back racing. Be ready. Don't get complacent here. Yeah, that was kind of that.

Q. What did it mean for you for Kyle Larson to come up to you on the platform, given your history that you guys have had over the last few years? What did it mean for him to come up and say congratulations?

BUBBA WALLACE: Game recognizes game, and it's a sign of respect. Like I said, I respect the hell out of what Larson does. I wish I had that talent. I said this in the past. You can't be jealous of someone else's success. It happens quicker for others. You just have to trust the process and enjoy the journey.

Yeah, I've got to work harder to get to where he's at, and it's days like this where you see it pay off. At the end of the day, when you go up and congratulate somebody, it's just game recognizing game.

Q. One of the first things you said over the radio was a thank you to everyone who's believed in you because it's been a long journey or a long road, I think you said. Can you even sum up what this means because of that and the people that you're now sharing a moment like this with who have stood by you?

BUBBA WALLACE: No. I don't live in your mind. You don't live in my mind. We're all different. We're all created here to serve somewhat of a purpose. We may never know what that purpose is, but we fulfill our duties each and every day searching for that purpose, right?

I'm super hard on myself. I see Tyler having a lot of success with the team, and you wonder like, Man, how in the hell do they keep getting these opportunities? It's showing up. Charles says it best. Just keep believing in yourself, and he's never let me get off that path. Yes, I'll take a detour for a second, but it's not lingering.

Throughout the weeks, it's like, man, here we are -- I said it earlier -- like playoff time again, we're getting close. But never got too far down a lonely road, if that makes sense, which I've been in so many times. I'm sure there's people in here that struggle with that, but you've got to keep on pressing on.

Throughout the last three years of the ups and downs, the fights, the arguments you have back in the shop, wanting this, wanting that, it's never easy. It's never easy for Larson, who wins, or for Denny, who wins. It's never easy. So you just have to trust the process and trust the journey that you're on. However it may come out, you've always got to stay up and stay hungry and stay humble.

Q. These last three years, this is an organization that you all expect to win, and the outside expects the organization to win.

BUBBA WALLACE: Absolutely.

Q. You're a driver that, for right or wrong, many people look at, and there's pressure on you to win races. I know it's hard to do, but take Indianapolis out of this for a second. How much of today is just a relief to win a Cup Series race?

BUBBA WALLACE: All of it. It doesn't matter if we were in our backyard of the Cup race. It's a race. It's so hard to frickin' win at the top level.

I explain, and it's always fun explaining to new fans, the exposure levels when you start out racing. When you race go-karts, you're exposed to Bandos. When you race Bandos, you're exposed to Legends cars, so forth and so on. When you race Xfinity, you're exposed to Cup. When you race Cup, what are you exposed to? Retirement. That's it. You're at the final rung of the ladder. So there's a lot of expectation on you to deliver.

With a team like we have at 23XI, having the right people, having the right sponsors, it takes everybody there at Airspeed to have days and have moments like this. Yes, there is a certain level of expectation to win, and so for not being able to do it for almost three years, like you really start to doubt yourself and wonder like, is this it? After the contract's up, is this it? I mean, I've still got a couple years left, but hopefully this gives me another year at least.

Q. I wanted to ask about sort of two follow-ups on 23XI. The combination with you, Charlie, Freddie --

BUBBA WALLACE: Charlie, that's a new name for him.

Q. In general putting all of that together and also Denny sort of talked about how it's an organizational win because of how everyone sort of works within that. Can you compare it at all to working with Bootie or in general just how you've seen the teams you work with evolve over the years to where they stand now?

BUBBA WALLACE: I thought when we made the change and the change kind of developed weeks and days after, I felt -- to me, I was just looking at it, that was kind of a seamless transition from Bootie to Charles. Bootie had gotten me to this level and had taught me a lot and put me in scenarios where I'd let the team down. We thought from all the success that we had, that it kind of had plateaued and we needed a change to see.

I'll never forget the day that we had that conversation. I really looked at Bootie as a true leader of what the 23 team had, but more importantly, he became one of my best friends. I thought that was -- that was tough making that switch. But every person's different. Every person has a different way they go about doing their job.

I remember the day we talked, Charles and I talked -- Charlie and I talked, as you would say. I reiterated to him that I want to have fun over and over and over again. I made sure that was instilled in his mindset. I said, I appreciate all the work you're going to do. We have a long road ahead of us, but let's make sure we have fun doing it.

He's done a really nice job of always putting that first. It takes me back to when I used to race with my parents. My dad would say, did you have fun? That was the first thing. So we get a little bit of that back, and it's cool to see what we can do.

Q. Talked about Freddie, Charles, and Charlie. I wanted to ask about a newer member to the team, it looked like, for this weekend. Is Cookie Monster staying on board?

BUBBA WALLACE: Yeah, how about that? That was cool. We were able to bring in Cookie Monster and got him a win. I wish Becks was a little bit older to understand what was going on. He was not really a fan.

But such a cool partnership that we were able to form with Sesame Street. That's kind of the cookie on top, if you will, to go to Victory Lane. Really appreciate them being here.

Q. We talked earlier in the week on the telephone, and you talked about having your 9-month-old on your lap and the joy that it gave you. Talk a little bit about a tough day on the track, a tough day in life, going home and seeing what's really important and how that inspires you?

BUBBA WALLACE: Yeah, it's just a nice reset because -- I don't know if you guys have dogs or pets, but you go home to your dog, they're excited to see you for about five minutes, and then that's kind of it. You can't just say that's kind of it with a kid. You've got to take care of him. Whether he's crying or change a diaper or whatever it is, you have to set all that aside. Dogs will take care of themselves once they're old enough and figure out where the food bowl is. You're teaching your son, my son, each and every minute, every moment of life. Everything we do, I have to realize he's picking up on things and I may not know it yet.

It is a beautiful escape. As frustrating as the days can be, when he's crying in the middle of the night, it's like, all right, well, I don't care that -- or Amanda doesn't care that I finished 37th wherever. Get up there and change a diaper, and you have fun with it. I'm not saying that smelling poop is fun, but you find ways.

Q. I do want to ask about the last two restarts because throughout your career, you've always been very good at restarts, getting track position. This is a crown jewel event, front row, control car. This is a situation where many other drivers throughout NASCAR history have stepped on it and messed up. How did you pull that off two different occasions?

BUBBA WALLACE: The first one, I caught everybody sleeping, and I didn't have the help from the 24. So Larson put up a good fight through turn 2, and caution came out. Larson picked up on my gains. So you always have to have tools in the toolbox to try to one-up each other. I was able to get kind of an edge, and he didn't have help. Byron's probably laying off me to not push, but it was kind of more of a traditional drag race into turn 1. The tires felt better for me to just trust the car and stay in the throttle, and he had to lift.

Yeah, I was kind of glad we had the second restart because everything just kind of came together better. But it's in those moments where either you shit or get off the pot, as they say. In the last run, it's like you're going to give this away. The other side was like you got this. You're about to show everybody why you belong here, and we did that.

Q. Thinking about Indianapolis, you see each May how this track creates heroes, and you see how the crowd reacts to Josef Newgarden or Alex Palou or even Kyle Larson, and I was listening to the crowd reaction before the final restart, and I could here they'd say over the track PA, is Bubba Wallace going to get the win? Boo. Is Kyle Larson going to get the win? Yay. Going back to what you talked about earlier with all the cheers you were getting after the checkered flag, is it any more significant to win the approval of the crowd at Indianapolis? Even if not, what is it like to have the crowd react here at Indianapolis in particular?

BUBBA WALLACE: Man, it doesn't matter where we're at. You're going to get both sides of the spectrum. It's our job to shut that aside when the time is counting on you and just go out and deliver. Maybe I gained a fan. Maybe I lost another fan today, and that's okay. I've matured a lot. No disrespect, but I really don't give a damn.

I'm sitting here a Brickyard 400 winner. Again, a beautiful family. I'm winning at life. If everything stopped right now, I'd be okay with that, and that takes a lot for me to say. Nothing else really matters.

THE MODERATOR: Before we wrap here, I wanted to ask you about Scott McLaughlin tweeted similarly kind words about your win.

BUBBA WALLACE: Did he?

THE MODERATOR: He did. He's really excited.

BUBBA WALLACE: Hell yeah.

THE MODERATOR: He just talked about winning at Indy and what a great dad you are and some other things obviously that you'll have a chance to look at, but you and Scott and SVG and a few others have been spending Tuesday nights at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Do you mind just to talk about that a little bit? What made you guys do that and kind of the friendships you guys have gained through that. Does that help at the track?

BUBBA WALLACE: It helped SVG this weekend. The son of a bitch qualified 11th on oval. He's figuring it out.

I've always loved Legend car racing. Myself and that series -- I don't know if any of you guys were around for those times, but we had a lot of bad days there, but a lot of good days. I always thought Legend car racing was the most beneficial car that I learned how to drive. I always went back to Legend car racing to figure out the next steps in racing.

For years I've gone back and forth, taken a couple year break and gone back. So I ran last year, things were meh, okay. But Scotty and SVG came out one weekend. Man, I wish we had all their accents because they all sound so much cooler than us. Everything, whether they're mad or sad or happy, it just always sounds funny. They fell in love with it. They were like how much does it cost? We want to do this next year. So they put it all together.

Week 1, Scotty just rips the roof right off this thing. They have had so much fun. You couldn't wipe the smile off Scotty's face each and every time he got in a Legend car. It was so different for him. He loves beating and banging with the other guys. It's so funny now, like I used to be the guy always in fights, always bumping into other people, pissed off, racing each other hard.

Now I'm kind of like the elder statesman, if you will. I'm the one going up to the guys, hey, man, you don't need to do that. I started off by saying, I was in your shoes. I have done this. It's not the way. It's not the way to do it. Let's race better. This Summer Shootout has not gone, unfortunately, the way I wanted it to. We have yet to find Victory Lane. There's one week left.

I did kind of pull the plug on not running the last weekend. We'll see what the schedule's like. I know it's going to be busy after today. In our group chat with us three, I did say, all right, if I win Sunday, I'll race Tuesday. Then I quickly edited it and said, when I win Sunday, I will race Tuesday. So if my schedule permits, I guess I'm racing Tuesday. So I need to text the car owner, hey, get the car ready. I'm just going to show up and start last and go have at it.

Am I good to race Tuesday? Oh, never mind. What time is that? Oh, we can make the race. What time does that go to? We'll be there. I'm going to start shotgun on the field.

To your question, though, it's nice to escape the real job. Like we go out there and have fun. Man, I wish you all could see their faces every time they get out of the car. Now that they're starting to figure it out, they're getting a little bit that they can't go faster. That's the competitive nature. It's been a blast. I've really enjoyed running with them.

I did ask Scotty for some rain tips on the oval here. That didn't go well.

THE MODERATOR: Bubba, congratulations again on the win today. Congratulations on locking in your way to the playoffs.