On 25th April 2023, Alex Bowman suffered a heart-stopping crash during the High Limit Sprint Car Series event in West Burlington, Iowa. Bowman’s contact with Conner Morrell tossed his car, and it flipped several times, fracturing Bowman’s vertebrae.

It was shortly after signing the three-year contract extension till 2026, that Bowman’s fatal crash cost him a whopping four weeks of the NASCAR Cup Series season. As he is set to return to the tracks in the 2024 season, the Hendrick Motorsports driver expressed his guilt for letting the owners down.

Alex Bowman confesses his guilt as he ponders upon the horrific past

Bowman’s desire to put himself outside his comfort zone made him compete in the High Limit Racing series. Driving a sprint car on a big track is a tough task but Bowman wanted to experience that feeling, so he made a decision that he regrets now.

According to NBC Sports, Bowman explained that he voluntarily participated in the race, for his satisfaction. However, that was his choice and not what he signed up for with HMS. This feeling of guilt served as a motivational factor for redeeming the loss done to Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon. 

Bowman said while expressing his motivational factor, “I think I got like a little extra motivation just knowing that I did it to myself in a situation I didn’t have to be in.” 

He then explained how in pursuit of having fun, he forgot about his Cup Series duties and raced in the sprint car race and said, “Sprint car racing was something I wanted to do, but I was doing it for me, right? So I was going and having fun and did it to myself, and I think that was like, ‘Man, I gotta get back for Mr. (Hendrick) and for Jeff (Gordon) and everybody at HMS.”

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That Tuesday night turned Bowman’s life upside down in an instant. However, a couple of months later the 7x Cup Series race winner returned to the Coca-Cola 600 Cup Series race but faced misery.

Bowman’s painful NASCAR Cup Series return

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Feeling confident after the testing stint at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, Bowman went on to race in the Coca-Cola 600 race and finished at P12. Despite a fair outcome, Bowman experienced difficulties.

Bowman told NBC Sports that it was not driving the car that hurt his back that much, but it was the process of getting in and out of his Chevrolet Camaro that was the most painful task.

Bowman said, “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.”

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Bowman’s 12th place finish after partial recovery from his back injury shows that the racer within him is still alive and he can be a force to reckon with in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.