Bubba Wallace outlasted rain, additional time restarts, gas tanks, and the weight of a 100-race winless streak to seize NASCAR’s 2025 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With 4 races left in the common season, the win locked Wallace into the Cup Sequence Playoffs, shrinking the points-based qualification window.
Wallace, who was on the cutline, now turns into the thirteenth totally different race winner in 2025, leaving solely three factors spots remaining in the postseason area. The likes of Tyler Reddick (+138), Alex Bowman (+63), and Chris Buescher (+42) occupy these closing three positions, for now. However that margin is rising slimmer, and for a number of others, Sunday’s chaos at Indy dealt a tough blow to an already narrowing highway to qualification.
Listed here are the three drivers who suffered the most at the NASCAR Cup Sequence race at Indy:
3 NASCAR drivers whose 2025 playoff hopes take a significant hit after the Brickyard 400
#3 Ty Gibbs – Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54
Brickyard end: twenty first | Factors from cutline: -95
Ty Gibbs is leaving Indy one million {dollars} richer however no nearer to the playoffs. The 22-year-old JGR driver gained NASCAR’s inaugural In-Season Problem by outpacing Ty Dillon, however that money prize did not include a postseason berth.
Sunday was one other show of uncooked pace with no reward. Gibbs rolled off from a robust fifth-place beginning spot, however light by way of the pack as the race wore on, ultimately ending the day in twenty first. He stays 95 factors under the NASCAR playoff cutline with solely 4 races to make up the floor.
Making issues worse is that Joe Gibbs Racing already has eight wins this 12 months. Gibbs is now the solely JGR driver but to qualify, a undeniable fact that looms heavier with each week.
#2 Erik Jones – Legacy Motor Membership No. 43
Brickyard end: Thirty sixth | Factors from cutline: -147
(*3*)Erik Jones wanted a clear day at Indy. For some time, it seemed like he was getting precisely that, after ranging from the second row. However the No. 43 Toyota went behind the area after a late Stage 2 pit cease, the place the right-front tire was improperly fitted.
Moments after rejoining the monitor, Jones slammed the exterior wall when the wheel indifferent mid-corner. The consequence was a totaled automotive, a Thirty sixth-place DNF, and a suspension looming for his tire changer.
It is his fourth consecutive end of twenty fifth or worse, and it drops him to 147 factors behind the cutline. With that form of hole and solely 4 races to go, it is win-or-bust for Jones. Whereas he is proven superspeedway ability earlier than, Daytona may supply one final Hail Mary.
#1 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing No. 8
Brickyard end: twenty fifth | Factors from cutline: -81
It’s exhausting to think about a NASCAR postseason with out Kyle Busch. However for the second 12 months in a row, that’s precisely the place issues are heading. Sunday at Indy was a microcosm of his 2025 marketing campaign, the place glimpses of pace had been undone by unhealthy fortune.
Busch labored his manner into the prime 10 by the finish of Stage 1, scoring 5 stage factors and positioning himself for a stable run. However harm sustained in a multi-car incident throughout an additional time restart left the No. 8 Chevy with diminished tempo. He ultimately ended twenty fifth.
Now 81 factors under the cutoff, Busch finds himself in a precarious spot, too far to claw again on consistency alone. The 2-time Cup champion’s tenure at RCR has been marred by missed alternatives, inconsistent setups, and a rising sense that the outdated Kyle Busch magic would possibly now not be sufficient.
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Edited by Rupesh