Rick Hendrick Influence or Not, Alex Bowman Claims Decision to Prioritize NASCAR Was Coming

After Alex Bowman announced that his 2024 schedule would not include sprint car races, word quickly spread that he was being made to forgo them by the Hendrick Motorsports top brass. The #48 driver had suffered a fractured vertebra during one such event this year and the team, rather sensibly, did not want to take any chances with him again. However, Bowman has now clarified the insinuations of being ‘forced’ into the decision and established that it was he who made the call.

He said in a recent interview, “I think I saw a lot of people think that it was somebody else’s decision. Honestly, regardless of what anybody else said the decision was made before I talked to anybody else.”

Backing his call Bowman reasoned that he wanted to put sprint car races away until he could have his complete focus on them. Right now his commitment to Hendrick Motorsports demands more from him and he is prepared to offer just that. He added, “I just got to at some point do what’s best for my career. What’s best for myself, I think, for now, that’s [is] cutting back.”

One of the primary reasons Bowman was interested in sprint cars was his belief that they helped him get better in the Cup Series. He was a big fan of the increased instinct requirement in them. In his words that came during his World of Outlaws debut in 2022, “I want to use it as a tool to get better on Sundays. These cars act so fast, react so fast that it slows everything else down. (…) So, I’m glad I did it because I think it’s going to feel a lot more tame when I get to Daytona after this.”

Though his clarity to do away with sprint cars for now is commendable, how Bowman plans to make up for this ‘loss of practice’ remains a question.

The negative impact of Alex Bowman’s run in sprint cars

None who followed the 2023 Cup Series season can deny that the #48 team got off to a rocketship start at Daytona. They amassed 3 top-5 finishes within the first six weeks and ran atop the grid consistently. There is no reason to believe that this momentum would not have carried on had it not been for Bowman’s crash in the High Limit Sprint Car Series.

As a result of the same, the team fell hard and the driver has no one to blame for it but himself. After a season that put him out of the playoffs for the first time with Hendrick Motorsports and gifted him a lowly 20th position in the standings, he is gearing up for a massive comeback.