Hoping to cause a caution?
It’s safe to say that Bubba Wallace is one of NASCAR‘s most polarizing drivers. The only black driver in the sport, Bubba has plenty of haters who are quick to laugh when things go wrong for him and his #23 car. But yesterday, those folks had to watch as he took the checkered flag at one of racing’s most historic tracks, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to win the Brickyard 400.
There was plenty of drama to end the race. Bubba was leading with six laps to go and seemed to be easily on his way to the win when a pop-up shower soaked part of the track, forcing NASCAR to red flag the race for rain.
Luckily it was just a quick shower and NASCAR was able to get the race back underway, but questions remained about which drivers at the front of the field could make it all the way on fuel. Bubba decided not to pit for gas (obviously, because he was leading the race), and when the race went back to green he managed to hold off Kyle Larson and keep the lead heading down the backstretch.
But unfortunately for Bubba, a massive wreck on the backstretch before the field took the white flag set up yet another overtime, and would force him to try to hold off Larson once again.
Obviously that wasn’t what the #23 team wanted to see when they were already running low on fuel, but Bubba managed to keep the lead during the second overtime and hold off Kyle Larson on the final two laps of the race to win his first race of 2025 and his first crown jewel event, locking himself into the playoffs with his first win in 100 races.
Apparently though, a fan in the stands wasn’t happy about it – and tried to cause another caution themselves.
As the field was exiting turn four and coming to the white flag for the final lap, somebody in the stands threw a beer can on the track right in front of Bubba and the rest of the field.
Luckily the #23 car barely missed it, and the field took the white flag as normal, which means that in the event of a caution the race would have been over. And to be fair, we don’t know for sure that the fan was upset about Bubba. Maybe they were hoping to cause a caution after he took the white flag to make sure he won…but if I were a betting man, I’d say that wasn’t the case.
After the race, you could see just how much the win meant to Bubba, whose 23XI team is currently locked in a heated lawsuit with NASCAR over their charters and is currently forced to run as an open team, meaning they’re technically not guaranteed a starting spot in every race (though NASCAR recently changed the rules to essentially lock them into the field during the litigation).
The driver of the #23 car was emotional when discussing what the win meant to him:
And now, he’s locked into the playoffs and will compete for a championship in just a few weeks.
Unfortunately for whoever threw the can on the track hoping to derail his win, all it did was cost the guy his beer.
