From adversity comes achievement. That pretty much sums up things for Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman. After what he called the hardest hit of his career last Sunday at Michigan, it was questionable whether Bowman would be able to compete in Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 in Mexico City.
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Even though he was in significant pain on Sunday, especially with the race being on a twisting road course rather than a typical oval, if there had been an award for perseverance despite pain, Bowman would have won it hands down for finishing fourth after starting 29th.
“I think running well probably made it easier than it could have been,” Bowman told FOX Sports afterward, visibly rubbing his neck in discomfort. “Just proud of the whole Ally 48 team. I put us behind this week. In full transparency, I couldn’t walk on Wednesday so I missed all my sim stuff, I missed all my meetings, just trying to get back going.
“(I) had a lot of help from a lot of people to fix whatever the hell was going on and thankfully enough, I was able to run all the laps this weekend. Honestly, my goal was just to come here and make all the laps and to end up with a top five. I’ll definitely take it.”
Much like the driver who finished one spot behind Bowman, fifth place Michael McDowell, Bowman also felt that if maybe one or two more things would have worked to his advantage, he may have had a chance for the win — or a top three at the very least.
“I wish I wouldn’t have burned the tires off it so bad at the end, but yeah we were pretty decent,” he said.
Pain, unfortunately, limited Bowman’s sightseeing time
Ironically, Bowman has never been out of the U.S. in his life. So he definitely enjoyed a different country, a different culture and a different fanbase — as much as he could, that is, with limitations.
“Certainly, this week has been a lot, and travel for this week has been a lot, just with what I had going on,” Bowman said. “I wish I could have walked around the city more, enjoyed some of that more than I did because I just laid in a hotel bed all weekend.
“But yeah, it’s a neat spot. I’ve got to thank my girlfriend Chloe for picking me up off the floor and getting me some help. It’s been a heck of a week.”
Bowman will now have several days to rest up before the next Cup race, Sunday at Pocono Raceway’s 2.5-mile tri-oval, where he won back in 2021 and was third in last year’s race there.
