diff --git a/pkg/kv/kvserver/replica_raft.go b/pkg/kv/kvserver/replica_raft.go
index 1c303c93d6d0..87c5ad9dc4d3 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/kvserver/replica_raft.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/kvserver/replica_raft.go
@@ -633,6 +633,7 @@ var errRemoved = errors.New("replica removed")
 func (r *Replica) stepRaftGroupRaftMuLocked(req *kvserverpb.RaftMessageRequest) error {
 	r.raftMu.AssertHeld()
 	var sideChannelInfo replica_rac2.SideChannelInfoUsingRaftMessageRequest
+	var admittedVector rac2.AdmittedVector
 	err := r.withRaftGroup(func(raftGroup *raft.RawNode) (bool, error) {
 		// We're processing an incoming raft message (from a batch that may
 		// include MsgVotes), so don't campaign if we wake up our raft
@@ -698,9 +699,8 @@ func (r *Replica) stepRaftGroupRaftMuLocked(req *kvserverpb.RaftMessageRequest)
 			// If there is an admitted vector annotation, pass it to RACv2 to release
 			// the flow control tokens.
 			if term := req.AdmittedState.Term; term != 0 {
-				av := rac2.AdmittedVector{Term: term}
-				copy(av.Admitted[:], req.AdmittedState.Admitted)
-				r.flowControlV2.AdmitRaftMuLocked(context.TODO(), req.FromReplica.ReplicaID, av)
+				admittedVector = rac2.AdmittedVector{Term: term}
+				copy(admittedVector.Admitted[:], req.AdmittedState.Admitted)
 			}
 		}
 		err := raftGroup.Step(req.Message)
@@ -717,6 +717,9 @@ func (r *Replica) stepRaftGroupRaftMuLocked(req *kvserverpb.RaftMessageRequest)
 	if sideChannelInfo != (replica_rac2.SideChannelInfoUsingRaftMessageRequest{}) {
 		r.flowControlV2.SideChannelForPriorityOverrideAtFollowerRaftMuLocked(sideChannelInfo)
 	}
+	if admittedVector != (rac2.AdmittedVector{}) {
+		r.flowControlV2.AdmitRaftMuLocked(context.TODO(), req.FromReplica.ReplicaID, admittedVector)
+	}
 	return err
 }