It isn’t news that Rick Hendrick runs a tight ship at Hendrick Motorsports. After all, you don’t create the winningest organization in NASCAR by giving absolute free will to drivers. But that’s what he did for Alex Bowman in 2023. Mr. Hendrick had been receptive to Bowman choosing to run in the High Limit Racing Series under the condition that he doesn’t get injured, but that’s precisely what the driver ended up doing.
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Now that the season is gone by and preparations for 2024 are full-on, Bowman has opened up on his conversation with his bosses after the Iowa accident that fractured his vertebra. Mentioning his phone call to Jeff Gordon and Mr. Hendrick, he said, ” Calling Jeff and Mr. H, I was terrified because when I first asked Mr. H about it he was like, ‘Yeah, you can do whatever you want but don’t be dumb enough to go and get hurt’. And look what I did.”
“But they couldn’t have been more supportive. They were incredibly supportive throughout the whole thing. Just helped me however they could.”
Walking through the moments after the accident, he recalled how he couldn’t realize that something was wrong with him initially. Though he’d heard a crunching noise, the free movement of his limbs had led him to believe that he was okay. Only when he walked back to his trailer and tried removing his fire suit was he and the medical team able to confirm that his back was broken.
2023 was Bowman’s first season with his new crew chief, Blake Harris. Though the duo began their run well with 3 top-5s, the injury set them back and they never managed to recover from it. The #48 team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in 6 years as a result.
Rick Hendrick tightens his grip on Alex Bowman for 2024
Bowman suffered hard even after he returned his #48 car after a 4-week sabbatical. In his words, “I couldn’t really walk the week after the 600. Then I felt pretty good for a little bit. The Indy road course got my back pretty bad.” Keeping such outcomes in mind must have been the caution that Mr. Hendrick put Bowman’s way before the injury.
Now that things are done and dusted, the driver and the owner have both decided to stay away from racing outside NASCAR for the foreseeable future. Bowman confirmed on SiriusXM early this month, “I won’t be in a winged sprint car for the foreseeable future […] I made the decision and then my decision got reinforced by management.”
The driver has confirmed plenty in the offseason that he is back to being in his best physical shape. With distractions away and the recovery complete, the journey to Daytona is all that matters now.
