Bubba Wallace hopes to build on life-changing moment by adding a 2nd Brickyard 400 win to resume

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — When Bubba Wallace returned to Indianapolis this week, he felt like he was retracing the steps from last year's Brickyard 400 victory. Then he pulled through one of the speedway's tunnels, right underneath a banner of his image next to the previous race winners.

No, he's not here to relive the life-changing moment from last July.

He's back to deliver another historic moment when he tries to defend the biggest win of his career Sunday on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval.

“I wish it was as easy as copy and paste, but it's not — clearly as I go banging off the wall on Lap 1 1/2,” Wallace said Saturday, referring to an incident during Friday's lone practice session. “It's just really cool to be here, I always enjoy Indy for whatever reason. We've had really good finishes here in the Cup car."

Race weekend has not started well for Wallace, however.

Though he felt fortunate when the 23XI Racing team determined his No. 23 Toyota was not seriously damaged from the light brush with the wall, qualifying didn't go much better than practice. He'll start 29th on the oval, which has traditionally rewarded the top qualifiers over those who struggle.

But Wallace also felt snakebitten in qualifying last year when he watched Chase Briscoe beat him for the pole by 0.013 seconds.

He rebounded by overcoming an 18-minute rain delay, two overtimes, worries about running out of fuel and harrowing back-to-back restarts against the hard-charging Kyle Larson in the excruciating final minutes to become the first Black driver to win a major race on Indy's oval.

The only thing that would be better is doing it all over again.

Since NASCAR first started racing at Indy in 1994, only three drivers have celebrated back-to-back victories — Hall of Famer and seven-time Cup champ Jimmie Johnson in 2008-09, the late Kyle Busch in 2015-16 and Hall of Fame selection Kevin Harvick in 2019-20.

Wallace acknowledges the first win helped make him a better husband, a better father and a less stressed person. A second win seems almost unimaginable.

“I just went through the NASCAR post of every winner from ‘94, and to be on that list, it's kind of like I said last year, unbelievable," Wallace said. “I'm just thankful for the opportunity, thankful for the career I've had. You never know what cards you're going to be dealt but you put on your poker face and go do the best that you can, and sometimes you end up winning.”

Ryan Blaney might have the hottest streak going in the Cup circuit. The Team Penske driver has posted 11 consecutive top 11 finishes, won his second race of the season two weeks ago in Atlanta and is third in points entering Sunday.

Todd Gilliland calls himself the underdog in the final round of the In-Season Challenge. The Front Row Motorsports driver has no wins, no top fives, only two top 10s and is 23rd in points this year.

Yet somehow these two Ford drivers will go head-to-head, the top finishers collecting $1 million Sunday. Blaney has the clear edge after qualifying 13th while Gilliland will start 36th. But Gilliland thinks he can defy the odds.

“We beat them here last year so I don't know why we can't do it again,” said Gilliland, who finished sixth at last year's Brickyard — one spot ahead of Blaney.

Race organizers are honoring Busch in several ways this weekend. The two-time Cup champion died in May, at age 41, from complications from pneumonia.

A banner featuring Busch's image has been displayed downtown this week, and another banner covering the seats near the start-finish line features the No. 8 and Busch's signature. Also, on Lap 8 of Sunday's race, the track's scoring pylon will have a special display for Busch, similar to what Indianapolis 500 organizers did during their May race.

Racing at Indy is built on traditions, and one of those favored moments — kissing the bricks — began when Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett did it after winning the 1996 Brickyard 400.

Today, it's one of the most memorable moments on race weekend not just for NASCAR's Cup race at Indy but any race at this track and drivers can't imagine not partaking in the tradition.

“It has become a really cool thing regardless of how it got to be,” said 41-year-old Justin Allgaier, who celebrated his Xfinity series win with the smooch. “I think when you talk to teams, drivers, sponsors, even fans, that's such a kind of iconic moment that everyone wants to experience it because it's become something almost as big as winning the race.”

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Bubba Wallace (23) and Tyler Reddick (45) run during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Gabby Thomas, one of the deepest thinkers in track, chose to view herself as “healing” instead of “injured" last year.

That, in short, is how the Olympic gold medalist — slowed, then eventually stopped by an aching Achilles tendon — made it through a frustrating 2025 and turned it into a much more interesting and successful 2026.

“You are setting up to come back even better,” Thomas said of the change in mindset about being hurt. “And every time that I’ve had an injury, I’ve always come back stronger and better and faster. So that was what I was thinking, and then, just staying focused.”

The 29-year-old Thomas, who won the 200 meters at the Paris Games two years ago and is ramping up for a repeat attempt two years from now in Los Angeles, is not competing at this weekend's U.S. track championships in New York. She said it is not a signal that she is hurting.

In one of the interesting twists of 2026 — the middle year of the Olympic cycle that's always a little quirky for track — nationals did not fit into her Diamond League and international schedule. She's doing just fine there, with five sub-22 second runs this season, which gives her 20 for her career — the most by any woman at the distance.

She traveled to New York to cheer on some of her teammates sponsored by Toyota, which arranged this interview.

Among the highlights coming up for Thomas will be the World Athletics Ultimate Championships, where $150,000 first prizes are available, and more races at Athlos, the all-women league founded by Alexis Ohanian that is heading into its third year with a growing roster of runners, including Friday night's 100-meter champion, Sha'Carri Richardson.

Athlos' second meet of the year will be in October at Icahn Stadium on New York's Randall's Island, the same place where nationals are this weekend.

Thomas also is planning a wedding. Last spring, she got engaged to onetime Yale quarterback Spencer McManes (Thomas went to Harvard) and they'll get married in October at a location she did not divulge. Planning a wedding in the middle of track season?

“It’s not challenging,” she said. “I always say, you make time for what you care about and what you want to do, so if you love it, you’ll do it.”

She takes that mindset into her off-the-track life, where she still has plans for a career in women's health once the running stops. Thomas studied neurobiology and public health as an undergrad, then got a master's degree in public health at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

“As a female athlete and really understanding the gaps in women’s healthcare and how underfunded and how undersuited it is, there’s a lot of room for improvement," Thomas said. “I see myself being a part of that and narrowing that gap quite naturally. I think I will have to go back to school. I would definitely welcome that.”

Through much of 2025, Thomas was vocal about combating a growing trend of online harassment of female athletes by bettors. Earlier this week, she went on social media and doubled down on that, saying only one demographic of people harass her, “and it's never women.”

Off the track, Thomas is reading a few books by Bell Hooks, a philosopher and author who wrote extensively about race and feminism, that have reminded one of the world's greatest sprinters that there's more to life than track. In a way, it might help explain how Thomas — healthy again — can be sitting out of nationals but still loving every minute of it.

“It’s so easy to get very, very involved and tied into track and to make that your identity, especially at my level,” she said. "It’s been a nice reminder to think about who I am off the track, what I love, who I want to be.”

World 200-meter champion Noah Lyles showed no signs of fatigue when he won his first-round heat Saturday in 20.51 seconds. Just over 18 hours earlier, he took gold in the 100. Brandon Hicklin had the fastest time in 20.43.

Reigning world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden posted the top time (22.50) in the opening round of the women's 200 race.

Both finals are Sunday.

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FILE - Gabby Thomas celebrates after winning the final in the women's 200-meter run at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials Saturday, June 26, 2021, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, file)

FILE - Gold medalist Gabby Thomas stands on the podium after the women's 200-meter at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrade, File)