Kevin Harvick reacts to Bubba Wallace snapping NASCAR losing streak, winning Brickyard 400

Bubba Wallace wasn’t exactly trending in the right direction coming into Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Yes, he finished seventh the weekend prior at Dover, but that followed a four-race stretch of finishes outside the top 20.

But Sunday, everything clicked for Wallace and the No. 23 team. He captured his first Crown Jewel victory, snapping a 100-race winless streak that spanned over 1,000 days. The win was a huge relief for Wallace, who was emotional after the race. Kevin Harvick covered Wallace’s triumph on his “Happy Hour” podcast, recapping all Wallace went through to get to this moment.

“You saw the emotion and how much pressure is on Bubba Wallace, and the pressure that is on him to win driving for Michael Jordan and everything he has to go through personally with that. But I think a lot of the emotion was relief for him getting back to Victory Lane but having his son there,” Harvick said. “When I talked to Bubba this morning, I said, ‘Man, there is nothing like winning the first time when you have your child there in Victory Lane.’ It’s different. Who you are as a person is different. How you react, your emotions — everything is different.

“In his interview, you really saw all that emotion that he had a tough time handling and didn’t know what to say. … Ending a 100-race winless streak — that’s not fun to go through when you after to answer that question week after week. And with the lawsuit and everything that’s happening at 23XI, we’ve talked about is it bothering them. Is it affecting the race team because neither one of them [Wallace and Tyler Reddick] had been to Victory Lane. Now you end all that four weeks before the playoffs and put yourself in the playoffs.”

Bubba Wallace emotional after Brickyard 400 win, celebrates with family at the bricks

This was Wallace’s first victory since becoming a father in September 2024. Wallace celebrated the win on the frontstretch alongside his wife Amanda and son Becks. With the crowd cheering him on, Wallace lifted Becks over his head — Simba style.

“Welcome to Victory Lane, Becks. That’s pretty cool,” Wallace told Marty Snider of TNT Sports. “… To overcome so much and to put these people in Victory Lane — that’s what it’s about. It’s about these people that continue to push and believe in me. Man, just so proud. I appreciate all you guys. Thank you.”