Bubba Wallace exited the Bank of America 400 on Lap 77 after Alex Bowman spun into him near the bank on the Turn 2 corner exit on Sunday, in a race eventually won by Chase Briscoe.
Wallace, driver of the No. 23 car in the NASCAR Cup Series, had to be helped out of his car by emergency staff, but he was able to walk to an ambulance before being cleared at the medical center. He lingered in the car for a few minutes once slowing to a stop, long enough for health workers to unload a stretcher that Wallace ultimately didn’t use.
Bowman hit the back left side of Wallace’s car, spinning both of them out and ending each of their previously promising days.
“As soon as I touched the throttle, it snapped, and it obviously caught me off guard, and I overcorrected and just did a bad job,” Bowman said. “Ruined some guys’ days. So I hate that for William and Bubba. It’s on me.”
William Byron, who was behind Bowman and hit his car a moment later, was also knocked out of the race. All three are okay.
Wallace, who is in 10th place in the NASCAR Chase Cup standings, was fighting for fourth place when the crash happened late in Stage 1. The playoff driver is now buried deep in the standings with only four playoff races ahead of him.
“I’m fine,” Wallace told reporters. “I’m talking to you guys. Maybe I’m not okay, but I’m talking to y’all, I don’t know.”
The path to the Chase Cup will be harder from here, but Wallace has gone through this before. He has recorded three accident DNFs in the 2026 season.
“I’m starting to fall a little bit, but still a lot of opportunity in front of us, and unfortunately Alex got loose and we were just a byproduct,” Wallace said. “Unfortunate. No hard feelings.”
Up front, Chase Briscoe raced to the line against Christopher Bell and won, nosing ahead of his teammate at the very last second. It was the second closest finish at Charlotte in NASCAR history, and the closest Charlotte finish since Jimmie Johnson beat Bobby Labonte in the 2005 Coca-Cola 600.
Briscoe, who waited 19 weeks to win his first race of the season back in July, has now won back-to-back races to cut Kyle Larson‘s championship points lead down to 65 with four races to go.
Larson finished sixth to maintain a points lead of 49 over Denny Hamlin with four races to go. His finishes, starting with Darlington on Labor Day Sunday: 5, 1, 2, 1, 2, 6.
That Stage 1 wreck was one of many difficult moments for playoff drivers through the afternoon. Denny Hamlin served a safety violation after a tire bounced out of his team’s pit box, sending him to the back of the field temporarily. Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Ty Gibbs also suffered either penalties or damage that dampened their day early.
After the race, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell got into one. Ross Chastain, in a recent interview with OutKick, said the fight between Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar is “NASCAR 101.”
NASCAR held Kyle Busch‘s official Celebration of Life at Charlotte Friday night, complete with Brexton Busch riding in Kyle’s No. 8 Chevy and giving the crowd the most pressure-packed burnout of all time.
On the way out, the Hooters directly across from Daytona International Speedway closed its doors last week for the final time.
