Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman will be back racing at the Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. 

The driver withdrew from the competition after he faced severe vertigo symptoms at COTA, making him miss four races. Bowman was cleared a week earlier by his doctors after passing the necessary medical tests.  

During this pre-race press conference, Bowman was questioned by the reporters, asking if he felt like he was close to not racing again this year or ever. To which Alex Bowman replied by saying, “I mean, honestly, yeah. When I got out at COTA, I was like, 'This is probably it, ' like that was what was going through my head. I'm thankful that I get another shot at it.” 

The #48 car driver also detailed how he felt in the car with the symptoms. In his absence, it was Justin Allgaier who was in the seat, and despite having to juggle between O'Reilly and the Cup Series, the veteran driver did a commendable job.

This was not the first time Bowman had missed time due to injury. He suffered a concussion due to a violent crash in 2022. A year later, he also fractured his vertebra, but through it all, Bowman has managed to make his way back strongly.

Once again, his return comes at a crucial time, as there are just 19 races left before the chase. With the driver making his comeback on one of the most challenging tracks, it will be interesting to see how he performs.

Alex Bowman speaks about meeting expectations after his comeback  

Bowman is part of a stacked team at HMS, and the expectation is always for a great finish. However, even before injury, things were not looking great for him.

He has not finished inside the Top-5 throughout the season. This is expected to affect his final standings, but right now, his focus will be solely on Bristol.

“I haven’t qualified a car in a month, so the expectation is that it’s going to be extremely difficult to contend at one of my best tracks, two of the last three poles here," said Bowman. "I think those expectations probably change this weekend.”

Having already missed a few races, Bowman has a lot of catching up to do if he has to make it to the Top 16. While it is not an impossible task, consistency is going to become a key component for him going forward. He will be hoping Bristol turns out to be a good race for him, as that could set the tone for the rest of the races.

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Godwin Issac Mathew