Kyle Larson seeks out Bubba Wallace in victory lane, Wallace responds

Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace showed respect for each other after the two battled during the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After Wallace won the race, Larson sought him out to congratulate him.

Shortly after Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace spoke, Daniel McFadin of Frontstretch asked Wallace about his reaction to Larson showing his support. “Game recognizes, game, Wallace said.

.@KyleLarsonRacin came to victory lane to congratulate @bubbawallace on winning the #Brickyard400.

I asked Wallace what that meant to him.

“Game recognizes game.”#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/HsWtH8Vnix

— Daniel McFadin (@danielmcfadin) July 28, 2025

Wallace won despite two overtime restarts and being low on fuel. It was his first victory of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, and Wallace snapped a 100-race winless streak. He now joins Larson and 11 other drivers in the playoff field, which will be finalized at the end of August.

After the race, Larson reacted to Wallace beating him in the Brickyard 400. “The first one played out a little bit better,” Larson said of the restarts.” Kind of the same thing with me last year. Leaders got the inside. It’s really hard for me to beat that. Kind of just hoping for good fortune again with fuel and whatnot.

Bubba Wallace praises Kyle Larson after winning Brickyard 400

“Regardless, proud of my team today. We just executed. I don’t think we passed many cars on track, but our picker did a good job, and our team did a good job with strategy. Happy to get a good result like that. Wish it could have been one spot better, but congrats to Bubba. That’s so cool. This is a big race, and he’s a good dude.”

Sunday was a memorable day for Wallace. Along with winning one of the crown jewels of NASCAR and clinching a playoff spot, Wallace held off Larson, who won the Brickyard 400 last year and is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

“I respect the hell out of what Larson does,” Wallace said during his post-race press conference. “I wish I had that talent. I said this in the past. You can’t be jealous of someone else’s success. It happens quicker for others. You just have to trust the process and enjoy the journey. Yeah, I’ve got to work harder to get to where he’s at, and it’s days like this where you see it pay off. At the end of the day, when you go up and congratulate somebody, it’s just game recognizing game.”