NASCAR Chicago Win Gets Alex Bowman Off the Hendrick Motorsports Hot Seat

• Alex Bowman’s contract with Hendrick Motorsports runs through 2026, but his long winless streak put his long-term prospects with the team in jeopardy.

• After winning early in the 2022 season he suffered a concussion later that year that sidelined him for five races.

• His bad luck continued in 2023 when he broke his back in a Sprint Car race and missed three races.

Alex Bowman knew for weeks prior to the Chicago race there had been rumors that his ride at Hendrick Motorsports was in jeopardy. After all, he hadn’t won a race in two years.

However, after Bowman’s victory in the Grant Park 165 he had one thing to say to his critics.

“Everybody that said I couldn’t win and don’t deserve to be at Hendrick Motorsports and all that bullshit, cheers to you,” Bowman said.

Bowman’s contract with Hendrick Motorsports runs through 2026, but the Arizona native admitted that in the performance-based industry the health issues he has had to overcome during the last two years have been “really difficult” for him.

After winning early in the 2022 season he suffered a concussion later that year that sidelined him for five races. Then in 2023 he broke his back in a Sprint Car race and missed three races. After snapping an 80-race winless streak at Chicago, he admitted he had wondered if he would ever get a chance to win a race again.

A lengthy winless streak like Bowman experienced often triggers self-doubt in a driver and then it seems things always go awry with the team.

“We just couldn’t put it together,” Bowman says. “It has certainly been a large mental test to go through everything that has happened in the last two years and try to continue to overcome that each and every week. Honestly, the last month has been super frustrating for us.”

In the five races preceding the Chicago event, the team lacked consistency, recording only one top-10 finish. They even had an engine problem at New Hampshire that left them last in the 36-car field. Bowman’s performance in that five-race stretch only fueled the rumors that he needed a victory to save his job despite his contract. However, after his Chicago victory Bowman said no one at Hendrick Motorsports ever made him feel as if he was on the “hot seat.”

Bowman admits the mental side of struggling through his winless streak was “much tougher” than the physical side of recovering from his injuries. He describes his post-back injury as being about pain tolerance. His return to the gym was based on what he could do and the amount of pain he could handle. His first race back after suffering the back injury was the 2023 Coca-Cola 600. Bowman “felt great in the car”, but then he could hardly get out of his car after the race, and he could hardly walk the rest of the week.

There were times it “hurt really bad” but it was racing’s mental side that provided the biggest struggle.

Bowman admits that when he broke his back participating in his hobby, he felt he let down his team and owner Rick Hendrick.

“Life got difficult after that, but without everybody’s support sticking behind me, certainly couldn’t have overcome that,” Bowman said.

Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon said he hoped Bowman’s victory dispelled the rumors that had been circulating that his future at Hendrick Motorsports was questionable.

In Bowman’s mind, it certainly signaled an end to a difficult time in his career.