It took two overtimes for Bubba Wallace to hold off one of the toughest closers in the garage - Kyle Larson. But at the end of 168 laps around Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he emerged with the Brickyard 400 trophy and a guaranteed spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.This was Wallace's first victory in 100 races, with his previous one dating back to September 2022. He started strong from the front row, alongside polesitter Chase Briscoe, and stayed in the hunt all afternoon. But it wasn't until a green-flag pit cycle midway through the final stage that he took the lead after Ryan Blaney pitted on Lap 142.From there, Wallace built a five-second cushion over Larson, a gap that would prove invaluable as weather rolled in late. The first overtime saw Wallace launch cleanly to retain the lead, only for a multi-car crash to bring out the yellow flag and push the race into a second extra period. His crew chief, Charles Denike, recalled the tension from pit road in the post-race press conference (via Cup Scene):"We felt like we were in a pretty good spot, coming to the five to go, when the caution came out. Obviously we're leading with a 3 or 4-second gap, so it felt confident then. And then getting the lead on the first green-white-checkered, everything was fine there with fuel. When the caution came out again, it obviously was really stressful for everybody involved." (0:44 onwards)In that final restart, Bubba Wallace had to outfox one of the best in the business in Larson. With fuel readings uncertain, the No. 23 Toyota held steady, jumping off the line cleanly and controlling the inside lane down the stretch."He's a beast on restarts, first off, right?... It's controlling what we can control and managing those things... If it's your day, seize the moment. And if it turns out not to be your day, then we move on to next week. Full faith and confidence that he's going to go out there and be able to do that restart. If he gets it and nails it, we win the race," Denike added. (9:34 onwards)Bubba Wallace crossed the line 0.222 seconds ahead of Larson, taking the third win of his Cup Series career and finally converting weeks of competitive pace into a postseason guarantee. It was a major swing for a driver who came into the race hovering on the cutline.How 23XI's team-first approach fuels Bubba WallaceCharles Denike and Bubba Wallace celebrate after the Brickyard 400. Source: ImagnBehind Bubba Wallace's breakthrough was a deeply collaborative structure unique to 23XI Racing. The team has three full-time entries: Wallace in the No. 23, Tyler Reddick in the No. 45, and rookie Riley Herbst in the No. 35. Each has their own crew chief- Denike on the 23, Billy Scott on the 45, and Davin Restivo guiding the 35. But when it comes to building speed, walls between teams are nonexistent.Charles Denike explained how the technical responsibilities are divided to maximize collective strength (via Cup Scene):"During the week, we split up some of our primary roles. I focus on strategy, analytics, systems. Billy focuses on setup and simulation, and Davin focuses on aerodynamics. So, we make sure that we maximize all of the work into those areas by kind of prioritizing that way. Maybe that's 50 or 60% of our effort during the week, and then we can back up and look globally across the rest of what we need to do." (8:10 onwards)That collaboration, he emphasized, continues from inspection to execution. And on Sunday, it ended with a photo of the entire team gathered around Victory Lane."I was a little late getting here because we had the entire company out there taking a photo together because, it's a win for the company, not just for the 23 team specifically," he added.While Bubba Wallace celebrated, it wasn't a banner day across the board. Reddick, who ran in the top five for most of the race and started fourth, was collected in the Lap 162 restart melee when Zane Smith was spun and slammed the wall.Reddick, running 18th at the time, had nowhere to go and suffered race-ending damage. He finished 29th, his fourth DNF of the season, but remains relatively safe in the playoff grid at +138 above the cutline. Herbst, still adjusting to full-time Cup competition, finished 26th after a quiet but complete run.While co-owner Denny Hamlin came home third after starting from the rear in a backup car, it was Bubba Wallace and the No. 23 team who took the company’s spotlight with a win in one of NASCAR's crown-jewel events.