After Alex Bowman’s day at the Bank of America 400 in Charlotte went wrong early, he spent what followed trying to make it right. Freddie Kraft, Bubba Wallace’s 23XI Racing spotter, opened up on a garage interaction that amplified Bowman’s post-race sentiment, showcasing there was no bad blood between them despite Wallace getting wiped out through no fault of his at the end of Stage 1.

 “Just the wrong place, wrong time for Bubba,” Kraft said on the “Door, Bumper, Clear” podcast. “I feel bad for Bowman ’cause he feels awful, and to Bowman’s credit, he went to every guy in the garage I was working on the 24 car yesterday, and apologized to all of them. I was walking around down there between the haulers. He came over and apologized to me. I know he sent me and Bubba a text almost immediately.”

“I said, ‘Alex, I know you didn’t do it on purpose, you know it’. And I said, ‘I’m honestly glad we were there because if we weren’t there, you know you’re going to hit the wall a lot harder.’ That just happens sometimes, right? I mean, it just steps out.”

The wreck came late in stage one of Sunday’s race at Concord. With 77 laps completed, Bowman and Wallace’s battle for fifth place saw both drivers taken out. Wallace in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota was running side by side with the No. 48 HMS coming out of Turn 2 onto the backstretch.  

Bowman’s car snapped loose while exiting Turn 2 and shot up the track into the left rear of Wallace’s car, which instantly hit the outside wall and came sliding down the backstretch before he backed into the inside wall.

The collision even affected seventh-placed William Byron, who was unable to avoid the chaos on track and got caught in the aftermath. He scraped Bowman’s car and then hit Wallace before eventually coming to a halt.

Tyler Reddick, who was behind Byron in eighth at the time of the incident, managed to stay in the clear, finishing the race in eighth place.

“It looks like the No. 48 (Alex Bowman) 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.”

Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman shared the same sentiment, attributing the incident to unfortunate circumstances. This echoed Kraft’s read of wrong time and wrong place as well.

“No hard feelings, it’s just racing. It’s loose down there.” Wallace said after the race.

Bowman apologized to Wallace after the race, as he said, “As soon as I touched the throttle, it snapped, and it really, it obviously caught me off guard, and I overcorrected and just did a s*** job and ruined some guys’ days,” Bowman said grimly when speaking to the media. “I hate that for William and Bubba. It’s on me.”

Bowman backed his post-race media interaction with a visit to Wallace’s garage and sent a text message to Kraft and Wallace. This could be a reason for the spotter’s assessment of the No.48 driver feeling awful. Another reason for Kraft’s sentiment could be the way Bowman has struggled with the points picture this season. While all three men were out of the Chase contention, Bowman’s points have taken a massive hit.

The No.48 driver’s season has been an uphill climb ever since vertigo sidelined him for four races at the beginning of the 2026 season. He was eliminated from Chase contention after Richmond, so he has been racing outside the 16-driver field. Charlotte looked like a rare bright spot, with Bowman running in the Top 10.

Even with the crash cutting that run short, Bowman’s response to Wallace’s team followed a familiar pattern from Chicago two years ago.

Bowman was in a similar spot just two years ago

Alex Bowman apologizing for a wreck is nothing new. In fact, during the street race in Chicago in 2024, the same two drivers were involved in a wreck. 

On lap 25 of the race, Bowman clipped Wallace’s car, which spun and collided with the wall. Wallace ended up finishing in 13th, while Bowman snapped an 80-race winless drought with his triumph. 

While in an interview after the race, Bowman was quick to apologize to the No. 23 23XI team. 

“I have to apologize again to the 23 guys,” Bowman said during an interview with NBC, as reported by NBC Chicago. “I just messed up and was trying to get my windshield wiper on and missed a corner and ruined their whole day. I hate that, and I’m still embarrassed by that.”

While the circumstances were different at Charlotte, the approach for Bowman remained the same: own up to his mistake and apologize quickly.