Every NASCAR driver has to deal with injuries at some point in their career. Alex Bowman had to face the same fate when his back was broken in a crash on April 25, 2023, at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, during a heat race of the High Limit Racing Series, a high-paying sprint-car series co-founded by Bowman teammate Kyle Larson. Both Bowman and Conner Morrell’s vehicles flipped many times after they collided while competing for second place.

Alex’s injuries forced him to miss almost a month of racing. However, he recently made an appearance on Dale Earnhardt Jr’s podcast and made a few humorous statements to shut down Junior’s savage remark as he returned to racing for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after missing three events.

What Was the Banter Between Alex Bowman and Dale Earnhard Jr About?

Bowman had to take four weeks off, owing to his fractured vertebra, although he did all he could at home to speed up his recovery and get back on track as soon as possible. He also made sure he was eating well so that he would recover more quickly.

Yet, Earnhardt commented on Alex when the latter appeared on the Dale Jr Download podcast, stating, “I am just starting the NASCAR season because I work for NBC and we don’t work the first half of the year. So it’s hard for me to look some of the NASCAR drivers in the eyes because they’re halfway through the season and they’re pretty much in the middle of the grind.

But in the case of Bowman, Dale said, “And I’m like, Hey man! Fresh off vacation, how’s it going?“

Alex Bowman defended his extended absence from work by claiming, “I did take four weeks off, and it wasn’t a vacation.“

Adding to that, Dale Earnhardt again made a joke that was met with an appropriate response, while Alex Bowman attempted to provide an insight into what his 30th birthday looked like when he injured his back.

“For those of you that don’t know, I broke my back on my 30th birthday,” Alex Bowman remarked. “What were you doing racing on your 30th birthday?” Earnhardt said. Angered a bit by Dale Earnhardt’s continued attacks, Alex decided to shut him down with a fitting response, capping it off with, “Being a fu**ing idiot.“

It was entertaining to hear them spar, and Earnhardt’s suggestion that Alex Bowman’s rehabilitation time was his vacation time definitely was a good dig.

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Out-of-Action Injured NASCAR Drivers Who Missed Races

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Denny Hamlin was out of commission for around 6 weeks in 2013 after suffering a similar compression fracture, but he eventually came back even stronger.

Other instances when NASCAR drivers had injuries that necessitated a few-week layoff include:

After just 15 races in the 2013 Cup season, Tony Stewart had to take a long break due to a broken right leg.

Kyle Busch’s right leg and left foot were broken after his vehicle exited the track and hit an unguarded infield wall during an Xfinity Series race the day before the Daytona 500, leading to a long injury absence.

While racing in the 2012 Chase, Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered two concussions, the first in a testing accident at Kansas Speedway in August and the second in a last-lap accident at Talladega Superspeedway in October, which made him miss a lot of races in between.

Ricky Rudd’s shoulder was dislocated in an accident at California Speedway in 2007, forcing him to miss five races that year.

In NASCAR, broken arms and legs are the most prevalent injuries that drivers suffer. Smaller incidents, which occur significantly more often than huge, race-ending crashes, cause many drivers to suffer fractures to their shoulders and arms. Fractures of the scaphoid and distal radius are fairly common among drivers. Hence, it can be noted that even though several preventative procedures are in place, drivers still appear to incur them while they’re racing against the clock.

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