Bubba Wallace's wife Amanda reflects on "bitter sweet weekend" celebrating No. 23's IMS win amid personal loss 

Bubba Wallace made history by emerging victorious at the Brickyard 400 and becoming the first Black driver to win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, thereby ending his 100-race winless streak since 2022.

The 23XI Racing driver rushed to his wife, Amanda, and son Becks after winning the race. The couple also kissed the bricks at the IMS together, a tradition to honor the racetrack's history. Shortly after the race, Amanda Wallace took to Instagram, sharing a carousel of photos from the Brickyard 400, expressing her pride in Bubba and 23XI Racing.

Dubbing the No. 23 "the best car and driver this weekend", Amanda reflected on a personal loss amid the celebrations, stating:

"The rain, the cautions, the overtimes my heart couldn’t handle it!!! It was a bitter sweet weekend for our family winning on a weekend that we lost my Grandmother. No doubt she was riding with us all weekend, not only did she love to watch on Sundays but she also loved the casino and playing any game with the cherries 🍒"

She ended her caption on a note of how all of it is going to take some time to sink in. Wallace and Amanda have known each other since high school. However, the two didn't date at the time and reconnected several years later.

The 23XI Racing driver and Amanda started dating in 2016, and got married on New Year's Eve in 2022. Additionally, the couple welcomed their son, Becks Hayden Wallace, on September 29, 2024.

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"I have found my biggest problem": Bubba Wallace finds racing career loophole following Brickyard 400 victory

Bubba Wallace clinched the Brickyard 400 victory, edging Kyle Larson by .222 of a second and solidifying his place in NASCAR history. In addition to ending his winless streak, the Brickyard 400 win made Wallace the first African American racer to win a NASCAR crown jewel at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

While the No. 23 driver discussed his strategy in multiple post-race interviews, he also reflected on his mindset and how winning the race helped him discover a loophole in his racing. In one of the post-race interviews with NASCAR, Bubba Wallace said (via NASCAR):

“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 [pointing to his head]. If I could shut that off mentally, fully, we could do a lot more of this...At the same time, I was combating, and I’m like, f*ck right, we can do this. It was kind of like the angel and devil on your shoulder."

Bubba Wallace added that while his thoughts weren't all negative, it was the mindset of focus that counted the most. The 23XI Racing driver also mentioned how he stopped overthinking on the restarts, which was the time to "really focus and get the job done", adding that he is still working on his racing kinks and growing as a person.

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While Bubba Wallace missed the playoffs in 2024, and the chances of him making it this year seemed steep, the No. 23 driver's Brickyard 400 win has altered his trajectory.

With 16 points over the cut line, Wallace's victory at IMS made him the 13th driver to enter the playoffs.

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Edited by Rupesh