Why Injured Alex Bowman Is Considering Parking Sprint Car Side Hustle

• NASCAR Cup Series driver Alex Bowman broke his T3 vertebrae last month during a High Limit Sprint Car Series event at 34 Raceway, a 3/8-mile semi-banked clay track, in West Burlington, Iowa.

• The 30-year-old driver, who broke his back on his birthday had two words to describe being out of his race car: “It sucks!”

• Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews has said the organization would re-evaluate what drivers can do for extracurricular activities.

Alex Bowman, who is still recovering from a broken back suffered in a Sprint Car accident last month, says he doesn’t know if he will return to that form of racing once he’s healthy.

“That’s a tough decision,” Bowman says. “At some point yes (I want to return to Sprint Car racing), but I just don’t know when that point will be.

“Obviously, sitting out of the car again when I was recently out of the car last year (for a concussion) isn’t good for me. It’s not the money … I want to win Cup races and I don’t like sitting out.”

Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews has said the organization would re-evaluate what drivers can do for extracurricular activities, but Bowman said no one has said anything to him about it.

“I’m going to do whatever they are comfortable with,” Bowman said. “Obviously, I’ve really enriched my car racing in the last year … we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Bowman still doesn’t know when he will return to his No. 48 Hendrick Chevrolet currently being driven by substitute driver Josh Berry.

Bowman broke his T3 vertebrae last month during a High Limit Sprint Car Series event at 34 Raceway, a 3/8-mile semi-banked clay track, in West Burlington, Iowa. When his car finally landed after several flips, he didn’t think he was hurt. It wasn’t until he tried to remove his driver uniform that he realized he was injured.

“My plan was to get home and get checked out, but pretty quickly it became get to a hospital in Iowa and get checked out there,” Bowman said.

Due to the break’s location, Bowman has never worn a brace, and walking has never been a problem. His pain occurs when he lays down, sneezes, laughs, or coughs. He has returned to the gym for some light workouts, and he has doctor appointments later this week to determine how his healing process is progressing.

“Not working out for a couple of weeks is the worst thing in the world for me,” Bowman said. “They have like air bands that kind of pump up around your muscles so you can work out with really light weights and still get a good workout from it. I was doing curls with five pounders. Typically, I do 10s, so fives was a good workout for me.

“Some days I feel pretty good throughout the day and other days I’ll just move wrong or do things that kind of catch it.”

Bowman has yet to sit in a simulator since breaking his back but speculated it might hurt when he tightened his seat belts. He also said his back would hurt when a crewmember dropped the jack during a pit stop.

“Sitting I can do, it’s the impact stuff like driving down the road and you hit a bump,” Bowman said. “It sucks! That jarring is what hurts for me.”

The 30-year-old driver, who broke his back on his birthday had two words to describe being out of his race car: “It sucks!”

“But it’s really self-inflicted,” Bowman continued. “It was my choice to go Sprint Car racing and I knew what I was signing up for. I’m a big boy. It’s on me. There’s nobody to blame.”