Alex Bowman, seen here from an earlier race weekend, will make his first NASCAR Cup Series start since April in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte, after being injured in a Sprint Car crash in April. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
As the rain came down at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, NASCAR Cup Series driver Alex Bowman was thinking about climbing into his No. 48 Chevrolet.
Bowman has been out of action since fracturing his third thoracic vertebra during a sprint car race on April 25. He was lucky in that he didn’t need surgery, but the injury was one that would keep him sidelined.
Bowman drove for two hours in his Cup car on Tuesday at North Wilkesboro Speedway before being cleared to race in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. It wasn’t a perfect test, because North Wilkesboro and Charlotte, while close in geography, couldn’t be further apart in design.
Bowman wasn’t allowed to test at CMS because NASCAR has a strict ban on testing at tracks that host points races.
Bowman said afterwards, “I’m pretty confident that I’ll be just fine,” though he admitted he is still dealing with a small amount of pain. “I feel like the little bit of pain I’m going to be stuck with, I’m going to be stuck with for quite a while.”
He admitted that there was concern about racing for 600 miles in his first outing but that he intends to race the entire distance. “This week versus next week versus the following week, it kind of is what it is” Bowman said about any lingering pain.
He says that because of the location of the injury, there wasn’t much that could be done for it other than resting and being mindful of how he moved.
“As high as T3 is, it’s not like I had a brace or anything like that…they walked in and said, ‘you broke your back and we’ll see you again in three weeks.’ It was a lot of rest at first. After a week or two, the less I moved, the more I hurt.”
Bowman says he walked a lot to help keep the muscles loose as his fracture healed.
“I mean, I broke my back a month ago,” Bowman said when questioned about any lasting effects of his injury. “There’s definitely things that are going to come along with that for a long time — shoot, from everybody I talked to, probably forever.
“So, there’s some discomfort here and there and some things that I do that don’t feel good, but that’s just part of it…for the most part, I’m back to normal…just trying to be smart with things. But (if I) twist the wrong way, sometimes it hurts a little.”
Bowman says the pain isn’t as bad as he expected in the racecar, but he’s not sure what to expect on Sunday.
“Until I do it, I don’t know. That was really the whole reason for testing…but you can’t simulate what it’s going to be like at Charlotte at North Wilkesboro, so I don’t have a clue how much it’s going to hurt. At North Wilkesboro it didn’t. All we did was make long runs there…but we had two sets of tires, two hours and a flat racetrack that’s really slick and doesn’t give you the G-forces, and we have five hours(Sunday) night with a ton of G-forces and a ton of grip…it’s a bit uncomfortable, but I’ll be fine.”
He’ll start 31st on Sunday with no practice time after practice and qualifying were rained out on Saturday. He did run laps in a simulator to get an idea of how his car is set up, but as far as actual track time, he’s going in cold.
The playoffs are still very much a possibility. Bowman has received a NASCAR waiver. A win would lock him in, but he’s not far out of the picture as far as points are concerned. Bowman currently sits 17th in Cup Series driver points, just five behind 16th-place Bubba Wallace for the final playoff spot.
Sunday’s race will also serve as a Hendrick Motorsports reunion of sorts.
“I don’t know that they were missing much without me around,” Bowman joked.
Sunday’s race is the first time that the HMS organization will have its original 2020 driver and crew chief lineup since Phoenix. Crew chief suspensions stemming from that race coupled with first Chase Elliott’s broken leg following a snowboarding accident and then Bowman’s absence have meant that someone has been missing for several weeks.
“I’m glad to have us all back — and I hope we keep it that way for the rest of the year,” Bowman added.
NASCAR Cup Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
Coca-Cola 600 – May 28, 2023
Sunday’s Starting Line Up
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 24 William Byron Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
2. 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Ford 0.000 0.000
3. 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Edge Ford 0.000 0.000
4. 11 Denny Hamlin Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota 0.000 0.000
5. 8 Kyle Busch Alsco Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
6. 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Patriotic Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
7. 23 Bubba Wallace Dr Peper Strawberries & Cream Toyota 0.000 0.000
8. 12 Ryan Blaney BodyArmor Cherry Lime Ford 0.000 0.000
9. 20 Christopher Bell Interstate Batteries Toyota 0.000 0.000
10. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
11. 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 0.000 0.000
12. 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Patriotic Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
13. 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 0.000 0.000
14. 1 Ross Chastain AdventHealth Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
15. 45 Tyler Reddick Jordan Brand Toyota 0.000 0.000
16. 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
17. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 0.000 0.000
18. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 0.000 0.000
19. 54 Ty Gibbs # Monster Energy Toyota 0.000 0.000
20. 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 0.000 0.000
21. 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Duracell Ford 0.000 0.000
22. 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 0.000 0.000
23. 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 0.000 0.000
24. 99 Daniel Suarez Jockey Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
25. 7 Corey LaJoie AeroVanti Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
26. 43 Erik Jones U.S. AIR FORCE Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
27. 16 A.J. Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
28. 42 Noah Gragson # Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
29. 38 Zane Smith(i) Boot Barn Ford 0.000 0.000
30. 34 Michael McDowell Chicago Pneumatic Compressors Ford 0.000 0.000
31. 48 Alex Bowman Ally Patriotic Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
32. 77 Ty Dillon Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
33. 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
34. 78 B.J. McLeod B’laster Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
35. 51 Todd Gilliland Ruedebusch Development & Construction 0.000 0.000
36. 15 J.J. Yeley(i) Patriot Mobile Ford 0.000 0.000
37. 84 Jimmie Johnson(i) Club Wyndham Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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