Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman are out of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. A two-car collision off the exit of turn 2 ended both drivers’ days early in the sixth race of the Chase.
Bowman, a non-Chase driver, collided with Wallace coming off of turn 2. His No. 48 smacked the turn 2 outside retaining wall virtually head-on. Wallace, meanwhile, slapped the outside wall, then crashed into the inside wall on the backstretch.
Chase driver William Byron also got a piece of the wreck after making contact with Bowman, which was enough to end his day.
All three drivers were OK after the scary incident.
Wallace, Bowman Out Early After Charlotte Crash
Wallace, Bowman and Byron were all having strong runs in Sunday’s Cup Series race. The three found themselves running third, fourth, and fifth in the early laps of Stage 2.
Suddenly, however, that all went up in smoke when Bowman collided with Wallace, causing the major crash off of turn 2 and down the backstretch.
It was an unfortunate turn of events for Bowman, who has had a difficult 2026 Cup Series season.
The driver of the No. 48 missed four races early in the season due to having vertigo. Since then, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has only tallied four top fives and failed to make the Chase.
On top of a bumpy 2026 campaign, Bowman also announced his intentions to retire from full-time NASCAR competition at the end of the 2027 season. His latest win in the Cup Series to date was the Chicago street race in 2024.
Wallace was slow to get out of his battered No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota following the crash. Fortunately, he was checked and released from the infield care center without any issues.
Prior to Sunday’s Bank of America 400, Wallace was on a 3-race stretch of top-10 finishes. The 3-time Cup Series winner posted a seventh-place result at Bristol, a ninth-place finish at Kansas, and an eighth-place run at Las Vegas.
However, that streak would come to an end following the violent wreck with Bowman.
Byron Gets Piece of Bowman, Wallace Wreck That Ends His Day
Like his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Bowman, it has not been the year William Byron had hoped for up to this point. However, the driver of the No. 24 has seemingly found some speed in the Chase.
While the Chase opener at Darlington Raceway did not go his way with a 37th-place result, Byron earned a fourth-place finish at World Wide Technology Raceway, a ninth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway, a seventh-place effort at Kansas Speedway and a sixth-place result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Byron ranked 12th in the points standings entering Charlotte on Sunday. Unfortunately for the HMS star, it will be difficult to maintain that after suffering a DNF at Charlotte. It was the end of a solid four-race run Byron had been on prior to Sunday’s race.
Byron is in his ninth full-time season of NASCAR Cup Series racing. The two-time Daytona 500 winner made the Championship 4 three straight times (2023-2025) under the previous playoff format.
In the first year of the reintroduction of the Chase, things have not panned out the same for Byron.
Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman Involved in Violent Crash at Charlotte