Fully healthy after suffering a fractured vertebra in a sprint car crash in April, Alex Bowman is hoping for a much better 2024 in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Bowman missed three races before returning for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Detailing his recovery with John Newby of NBC Sports, Bowman explained that he had trouble getting in and out of his No. 48 Chevrolet after his return from the injury.
“When I was recovering right afterwards, it really was more just trying to not hurt [my back] or pi-- it off, I guess,” Bowman said. “… When I tested at North Wilkesboro and felt pretty good, that was good.
“Honestly, the hardest part was getting in and out of the race car. That was super painful. Being in the race car wasn’t that bad. So the 600 was totally fine. And then I went to get out, couldn’t hardly get out of the car.”
The back injury proved to be detrimental to Bowman’s campaign. After recording six top 10s in the first 10 races of the season, he notched just four top 10s in his last 22 starts. Bowman missed the playoffs and finished 20th in the points standings.
Alex Bowman ready for fresh start in 2024
“We were so strong to start the year, obviously led the points for a bit and were really good week in and week out, really up until I got hurt,” Bowman recently told Jonathan Howard of On3. “Then the wheels kind of fell off from there. I think everybody looks at our 2023 season and is like, ‘Man, you guys struggled.’ But the reality is, when we were firing on all cylinders, we were the most consistent car and one of the best cars every week.
“Post-injury, a lot was going on. We’re trying to catch up, I feel like our cars as a whole fell off a little bit at HMS, we weren’t where we needed to be and I’m coming off breaking my back.”
As for the 2024 season – Bowman is already working. In fact, he feels really good about his offseason prep.
“I’m looking forward to 24, there’s a couple of changes that I think are going to be really good,” Bowman said. “I’m feeling better I think having a couple of weeks not so compressed in the race cars has been good for me. From a fitness aspect, I’m probably in the best shape I’ve ever been in right now. Things are good, training really hard.”
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