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Big Crash Ends Day For Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace And William Byron At Charlotte Motor Speedway

by Hunter Thomas October 11, 2026 0 comments

CONCORD, NC – A big crash in the Bank of America 400 ended the day for Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and William Byron on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Bowman was battling Bubba Wallace for the fifth position in Stage 2, when his Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Ally Chevrolet snapped right in the middle of Turn 2 and shot up the track into Wallace on Lap 77. Bowman was then hit by teammate William Byron, who had nowhere to go.

“I just got loose,” Bowman said. “Honestly, I had been really tight. I don’t know, as soon as it got to the exit of the corner, it snapped and it kind of didn’t stand a chance. Unfortunately, I grabbed too much wheel, overcorrected it and got in those two guys’ way. I hate that for our No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team. We had a pretty fast car. I hate that for the No. 24 and No. 23 teams. It’s one thing to get loose and crash, but to ruin their days too really sucks.

“It’s on me. I just didn’t hang onto it well enough. I was just caught off guard. I don’t know why I got as loose as I did. I hadn’t been loose at all, but that’s part of driving a racecar and unfortunately I didn’t do a good enough job of it.” 

Both Bowman and Wallace took hard hits. Wallace’ 23XI Racing No. 23 Hardee’s Toyota took significant hits to the outside wall in Turn 2 and inside wall on the backstretch. It took Wallace a few minutes to climb from his crashed race car but thankfully, he walked away under his own power. He entered the race 10^th in The Chase standings.

“No warning,” Wallace said. “I saw it in the last second – the 48 (Alex Bowman) come up and clip us. No hard feelings, that is just racing. I was starting to drop, and it gets into a tight spot. To get on pit road smooth, we wanted to stay in front of him. He just got loose and got us. The first hit wiped our brakes out. The second hit got me good. But we are good. Still got nine fingers and nine toes (laughter), so we are fine.”

As for Byron, the crash happened too quickly for him to react in time enough to miss Byron. He entered the day 12^th in The Chase standings.

“It looks like the No. 48 just got loose and overcorrected it into the wall,” Byron said. “I was running the top and I lifted right away, but I couldn’t get low enough because he kind of came back off the wall. I hate it for this No. 24 Valvoline Blood Cancer United Chevrolet team. We had a top-five run going, so it’s just unfortunate.” 

The Bank of America 400 continues to broadcast live on USA. Christopher Bell leads Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick with only 100 laps remaining.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com