NASCAR insider cites Bubba Wallace’s three-word reaction to Kyle Larson’s post-race gesture at Indianapolis

Kyle Larson’s start at the 2025 Brickyard 400 wasn’t ideal, but by the end of the race, he was closing in on a potential repeat victory. What happened instead was a gesture where Larson, moments after finishing second, walked up to Bubba Wallace in Victory Lane to personally congratulate him. A brief video of this exchange has since been posted on social media.

Journalist Daniel McFadin shared the short clip on X, who writes for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. McFadin captioned the post,

“@KyleLarsonRacin came to victory lane to congratulate @bubbawallace on winning the #Brickyard400. I asked Wallace what that meant to him. ‘Game recognizes game.’ #NASCAR.”

In the video, Kyle Larson can be seen walking through the bustling Victory Lane area to reach Wallace. He offers a sincere handshake to Wallace, who is still in his car.

Bubba Wallace won the Brickyard 400 by going through two overtime restarts and holding off a hard-charging Kyle Larson. He led the final 26 laps after taking over the lead late in the race following a round of green-flag pit stops.

Despite fuel concerns and a sudden rain delay that bunched up the field, Wallace controlled both restarts from the inside lane and never gave Larson a chance to pass. It was his first win since 2022 and locked him into the NASCAR Playoffs.

---

Kyle Larson had the lane, Bubba Wallace had the race

Kyle Larson came close to defending his Brickyard 400 title on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but in the final laps, Bubba Wallace kept him at bay. With just four laps to go in regulation, Wallace was comfortably ahead. Then rain happened, triggering a caution and forcing an overtime restart.

That gave Kyle Larson, who had climbed to second following the final pit stops, a shot at the win. On the first overtime restart, Wallace had the preferred inside lane and managed to pull away out of Turn 2.

A multi-car wreck then forced a second overtime restart. Once again, Wallace controlled the inside, and once again, he got the jump on Larson.

This time, he held onto the lead and crossed the line just 0.222 seconds ahead of the No. 5 Chevrolet. Larson later spoke to NBC Sports about his restarts against Wallace. He said,

“There’s nothing you can do here (at Indianapolis Motor Speedway) to pass, so no, I don’t really think there was anything I could do differently.” He later added, "It was kind of the same thing with me last year – he had the preferred lane on the inside and it’s really hard to beat that.”

He explained that during the first overtime restart, he stayed in second gear but was almost cleared by Wallace before they hit Turn 1. For the second restart, Wallace slowed the pace, forcing Larson to shift to first gear.

Larson said the inside lane, which Wallace had both times, was a big advantage—similar to the one he used to win the Brickyard last year. He had led 19 laps during the race and finished second—his second top-10 finish in a row after a streak of underwhelming results.

Kyle Larson recent form has been inconsistent, with four of his last six finishes before Indianapolis being outside the top 10. Still, Sunday’s run was a rebound and put him back in playoff contention, now just 15 points behind leader Chase Elliott in the regular-season standings.

Get the latest NASCAR All-Star race news, Xfinity Series updates, breaking news, rumors, and today’s top stories with the latest news on NASCAR.

Edited by Tushhita Barua