Bubba Wallace did not let a brief red flag for rain with four laps to go deter his efforts to snap a 100-race winless streak on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Wallace got the better of Kyle Larson on two late restarts and held off the 2021 champion by 0.222 seconds to score his third career win and first Brickyard 400 victory.
BUBBA WALLACE IS A WINNER AT THE BRICKYARD! pic.twitter.com/5ITVgH9m8f
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 27, 2025
Wallace led 30 laps in the crown jewel race and jumps from the final spot in the playoff field to being locked into the postseason with his win on Sunday. Behind Wallace and Larson in the top 10 were Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and Carson Hocevar.
Hamlin overcame a last-place starting position due to a qualifying crash to finish third. Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Joey Logano each held the lead during the race, but suffered flat right rear tires and had nothing to show for it. The other big winner from the Brickyard 400 was Ty Gibbs, whose 21st-place finish was enough to outduel Ty Dillon (28th) to win the inaugural In-Season Challenge and $1 million prize.
NASCAR Cup Series regular season points and playoff picture after Indianapolis
Four races remain in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season. Those include 0.88-mile Iowa Speedway (Aug. 3), 2.45-mile road course Watkins Glen (Aug. 10), 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway (Aug. 16) and 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway (Aug. 23).
Updated Cup Series standings after the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Driver Standings | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|
1. Chase Elliott | 726 | 0 |
2. William Byron | 722 | -4 |
3. Kyle Larson | 711 | -15 |
4. Denny Hamlin | 706 | -20 |
5. Christopher Bell | 664 | -62 |
6. Tyler Reddick | 655 | -71 |
7. Ryan Blaney | 616 | -110 |
8. Chase Briscoe | 599 | -127 |
9. Alex Bowman | 580 | -146 |
10. Chris Buescher | 559 | -167 |
Elliott remains the points leader, but only by four points after getting outscored by Byron. While the top four remain the same, William Byron, Larson and Hamlin each gained on Elliott, making the battle for the regular season championship an intriguing one for the final four races. Other than Bell leapfrogging Tyler Reddick for fifth, the top 10 did not see much movement following the Brickyard 400.
Notable drivers outside the top 10 in the overall standings include Wallace (11th), Logano (12th), Kyle Busch (15th), Gibbs (16th), Keselowski (24th) and Daniel Suarez (31st). Cindric (17th), Josh Berry (21st) and Shane van Gisbergen (27th) are in the bottom half of the overall standings, but are in the playoff field as things currently stand due to their wins this season.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture after Indianapolis
Position/Driver | Playoff points | Wins/points above or below cutline |
|---|---|---|
1. Denny Hamlin | 24 | 4 wins |
2. Kyle Larson | 23 | 3 wins |
3. Christopher Bell | 17 | 3 wins |
4. Shane van Gisbergen | 17 | 3 wins |
5. Chase Elliott | 6 | 1 win |
6. William Byron | 12 | 1 win |
7. Ryan Blaney | 10 | 1 win |
8. Chase Briscoe | 7 | 1 win |
9. Bubba Wallace | 7 | 1 win |
10. Joey Logano | 7 | 1 win |
11. Ross Chastain | 6 | 1 win |
12. Austin Cindric | 8 | 1 win |
13. Josh Berry | 6 | 1 win |
14. Tyler Reddick | 1 | +138 |
15. Alex Bowman | 0 | +63 |
16. Chris Buescher | -4 | +42 |
17. Ryan Preece | 2 | -42 |
18. Kyle Busch | 0 | -81 |
19. Ty Gibbs | 0 | -95 |
20. AJ Allmendinger | 0 | -124 |
The biggest change in the playoff standings is Wallace's move from the 16th position to ninth following his Brickyard 400 win. While Reddick (+138) and Bowman (+63) still have some separation from the cutline, Chris Buescher drops to the 16th and final spot (+42) over Preece, who falls out of the playoff field after Indianapolis. Busch (-81), Gibbs (-95) and AJ Allmendinger (-124) are the next three drivers below the top 16, with each of them facing an uphill battle to make the playoff field with four races to go.
One thing to keep in mind is the importance of both regular-season points standings and playoff standings. While drivers with wins vault to the top of the points standings and guarantee themselves a playoff spot, assuming there are no more than 16 winners, the overall points are equally important.
The regular-season champion by season's end will earn an additional 15 playoff points, second place will get 10 and drivers third-to-10th in points will receive points in descending order down to one point for 10th.