Bubba Wallace has been 'crushing life' off the racetrack; returns to Indy as defending winner

Bubba Wallace would be the first person to tell you that he unabashedly wears his heart on his sleeve. 

The Mobile, Alabama, native has never been one to hide his emotions. That has been prevalent throughout the ups and downs of his NASCAR career, especially the latter. 

But last year, after winning one of NASCAR's crown jewel races in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wallace celebrated the biggest moment of his career with his family and was all smiles.

The father of two returned to Indianapolis this weekend to try and defend his Brickyard 400 victory. 

"Amanda and I have been crushing life ever since our kids were born," Wallace said Saturday at IMS. "It's been a lot of fun. We've had our ups and downs, as every parent does. We've had a lot of bad weekends this year, and to be able to go home and wake up the next morning and wake up with [son] Becks — he's excited to see you whether you won or lost. 

"When you can feed off their energy and latch onto that, it's special. It's been great."

Wallace left Indianapolis last year with a trophy and a playoff berth. He comes back this year with a newborn daughter, Cameron, and the pressure of the fight to make the NASCAR postseason once again all around him. With five races left in the regular season, Wallace is 69 points above the cut line, and in NASCAR's new Chase format, a win on Sunday no longer guarantees a spot in the postseason. 

Bubba Wallace returns to Indy as defending winner

Still, it was a fun return to Indy for the defending Brickyard 400 champ. 

"I told [crew chief Charles Denike] when I got off the plane and walked through the FBO, it was like retracing steps," Wallace said. "You were leaving the racetrack, now you're walking back in. You remember the FBO, you remember getting in the car, all the right turns to make."

Wallace did, in fact, miss a turn on the way to IMS, though he said that was a blessing in disguise. 

"The next street that I took, I was head-on heading to the track right with my banner," Wallace said. "Thought that was pretty cool."

Toyota flexed its muscle in Cup practice on Friday, with Wallace's 23XI Racing teammate in Tyler Reddick sitting eighth on the speed chart. But Wallace's session took a turn for the worse when he hit the wall early, forcing him to bring his No. 23 to the garage. 

"Being back in here, I wish it was easy as copy and paste," Wallace said, "But it's not, clearly, as I go banging off the fence on lap one-and-a-half. I've always enjoyed Indy. Always a lot of speed, always clean execution races. Looking forward to the opportunity tomorrow."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.