- Bowman thought career was over after experiencing vertigo symptoms.
- HMS stands firm behind Bowman with full confidence in his racing talent.
- Bristol run fell apart early, but he remains confident about bouncing back.
Alex Bowman returned to NASCAR action at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, and while the result went south, he at least proved he is fit to race again. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports driver had sat out four races with vertigo after symptoms surfaced at Circuit of the Americas.
Cleared to return, he made it back to the grid, only for his race to end early in a crash not of his making, with damage that could not be fixed.
Bowman had career doubts after a vertigo diagnosis, but got the HMS team backing him
Bowman had stepped out of the car at COTA 71 laps into the race, with Myatt Snider taking over. In the races that followed, Anthony Alfredo and Justin Allgaier filled in at Phoenix Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, and Martinsville Speedway.
Ahead of Bristol, Bowman spoke of the moment he thought his run in the sport might be over after the vertigo diagnosis. “I mean, honestly, yeah, when I got out at COTA, I was like, this is probably it. Like that was what was going through my head. So, yeah, that sucked. And thankful that I get another shot at it. Obviously, COTA wasn’t a lot of fun for me. Yeah, I mean, everything was fine until it wasn’t.”
“Obviously, in the car, and dizziness, throwing up on myself, spinning, kind of all of the things. So I was going to end up running into something or somebody. And the smart thing to do in that case was to get out.
“So, spent a lot of time with a lot of different doctors and had a lot of different help to, you know, go about the best rehab process possible and kind of best practices going forward and everything to get back to where I needed to be to get back in the car.”
But despite five weeks on the sidelines, Bowman returned with the full backing of his team. Given that Bowman’s comeback was a big deal for the whole team, Hendrick president Jeff Andrews also joined the press conference, addressing the media and making it clear there was no doubt about the seat.
He said Bowman has always been the driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, a key part of the team and the company, and that the organization would wait and bring him back at the right time.
Bowman, for his part, struck a modest tone, saying he feels the team shows him “more grace than he deserves,” adding that he believes he has put Hendrick in a bind more than once over the past five years, from 2022 through 2023 and now again.
For instance, back in 2022, Bowman missed five races after a concussion at Texas Motor Speedway. And then, in 2023, a crash in a dirt sprint car event left him with a fractured vertebra, forcing him out of four races. Andrews brushed off those concerns, signaling the team does not share Bowman’s doubts.
What went wrong for Bowman at Bristol?
Bowman came into Sunday P36 in the standings, started P27, and said pre-race work felt routine despite not racing since March 1. However, his return hit trouble early. A four-car crash dropped him to the foot of the order. He was running 31st in a 37-car field when Shane van Gisbergen spun on Lap 160.
The Trackhouse Racing driver slid up and swept up Bowman along with John Hunter Nemechek and Todd Gilliland, with all four cars squeezed along the outside wall. Bowman’s car went behind the wall for repairs, but the team ruled the damage beyond repair. He was P30 at the end of Stage 1 on Lap 125, logged 38 more laps, and became the first retirement.
The one silver lining came on the health front. Bowman said he felt “totally fine” after his first race back, though the result caught him off guard, at the track where he has form, with top-10 finishes in three of his last four starts there, including two poles.
