The 160-lap race was won by 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who survived two overtime finishes to beat Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson.

With his win, Wallace booked his place in the first round of the Playoffs.

It came amid fears the #23 Toyota Camry might not have enough fuel to finish the contest.

“I’m worn out,” he said.

“Just so proud of this team. That adrenaline rush is crazy because I’m coming off that right now and I’m worn out.

“I just want to thank everybody behind here, all these guys. All these men and women at Airspeed for making this possible.

“To win here at the Brickyard, knowing how big this race is, knowing all the noise that’s going on in the background, to set that all aside is a testament to all these people on this #23 team.

“It’s been getting old running on the cut line.”

From 11th on the grid, van Gisbergen dropped to 13th before the yellow came out on Lap 18 for his teammate Ross Chastain who got sent into a spin by Michael McDowell at Turn 3.

Nose-to-tail contact from the #71 turned the #1 around and hard into the wall, ending its day early.

McDowell had his own issues shortly thereafter, suffering a right front puncture after the race restarted.

Van Gisbergen pitted under yellow and took two right side tyres. On the restart, van Gisbergen began to hemorrhage positions and reported a vibration.

“I’ve got everything. Loose in, tight. I’m having moments everywhere,” he radioed.

“I’ve got no grip, and we’re so slow down the straight. Are we down on power? Or do we just have bad exits? I just cannot stick to the throttle.”

Van Gisbergen continued to plummet, bemoaning his inability to protect his position over a lack of speed. The team couldn’t find anything wrong with the car.

“I’m out of control loose,” he said.

“I’m sorry, this thing is f***ing terrible. It feel like the right rear is coming apart. It’s f***ed.

“The whole car is vibrating.”

By the end of Stage 1, he was 33rd. Chase Briscoe won the first stage ahead of Wallace, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buescher.

Van Gisbergen pitted under yellow and took four tyres. His team reported nothing visibly wrong with the car nor with the set of tyres that came off the car, which left the Kiwi bemused.

On the restart, van Gisbergen was 27th. With the change of tyres, the vibration cleared itself.

“I don’t feel as gripped up as the first stint but the balance is back and it’s running smooth,” he said.

Several cars suffered damage on the Lap 56 restart thanks to an accordion effect of cars checking up. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. suffered the most damage and was forced to pit. Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, and Reddick all copped damage.

Van Gisbergen hovered around 24th before green flag pit stops began. He rose to eighth and was just shy of going a lap down when the yellow came out for Erik Jones.

The #43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry suffered a right front wheel failure and spat Jones hard into the Turn 3 wall.

Van Gisbergen pitted under yellow and dropped to 18th once the pit stops cycled out. Ryan Blaney took the lead having pitted earlier ahead of Brad Keselowski, and the Hendrick Motorsports trio of William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Larson.

After a short green flag run to end Stage 2, van Gisbergen wound up 14th. Blaney took the stage win ahead of Larson and Hamlin. However, Blaney was sent to the back of the field for pitting when the pit lane was closed for an emergency fuel top-up.

Van Gisbergen continued to bemoan a slow car, seemingly unable to maximise his corner exit speed.

“I feel like I’m on six cylinders,” he said.

“I have no f***ing straight line. All the temps are fine, but I just have no power.”

On the Stage 3 start, van Gisbergen got back on the radio to reaffirm his view that there was a problem with the car.

The decisive moment in the race came inside the final 50 laps. Byron and Briscoe pitted on Lap 119 of 160 and race leader Larson pitted on Lap 122 followed by Hamlin. Van Gisbergen pitted two laps later.

In a surprise twist, Joey Logano shot to the effective lead with a massive undercut by taking just two tyres. Those who went early benefited the most with Wallace projected to second, Reddick third, Berry fourth, and Larson fifth — albeit with a few off-strategy cars ahead of them still to pit.

Drama struck with 26 laps to go when Logano’s right rear tyre let go, which gave the effective lead to Wallace.

On the strike of six laps to go, the caution came out for rain at Turn 1. That eliminated Wallace’s three-second lead over Larson.

As the rain got heavier, the cars were brought to the pit lane while the track was dried.

After a lengthy delay, the race resumed under caution. Van Gisbergen debated whether to pit but benefitted from a few cars ahead of him coming to the lane, lining up 16th for the restart.

Wallace led the field to green with Larson alongside. Byron and Hamlin lined up third and fourth respectively.

Wallace held off Larson through Turn 1 and Turn 2 but all hell broke loose down the back stretch when Christopher Bell in the #20 got into the side of the #38 of Zane Smith and tipped the Front Row Motorsports driver into the wall.

Tyler Reddick in the #45 was left with nowhere to go and piled into Smith. Van Gisbergen narrowly missed the spinning Toyota, who got collected by Logano.

Under yellow, van Gisbergen pleaded to pit.

“I need tyres, man. I’ve got no grip,” he said

“I just got driven around the outside by three guys. I need tyres.”

After some deliberation, Trackhouse Racing elected to pit van Gisbergen from 19th and only dropped to 20th.

In the end, van Gisbergen only got back to 19th. Wallace was able to once again hold off Larson and clinched his first win of the season.

Hamlin was third with Ryan Preece the quiet performer in fourth for RFK Racing ahead of his teammate Brad Keselowski.

Results: NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400, Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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