MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Alex Bowman made a special trip to Martinsville Speedway Sunday to talk about his ongoing recovery from a concussion, and his return to the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet next week at Phoenix Raceway.
It’s a positive sign for the Hendrick Motorsports driver who got out of the car midway through the NASCAR Playoffs after a crash at Texas Motor Speedway on September 25.
Noah Gragson has filled in for Bowman in the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Meantime, Bowman made a startling discovery when he went to a supermarket on one of his Sunday’s out of the car.
“All I’ve ever known is racing, so when you’re not going and having to do different things on a weekend is just weird,” Bowman said. “Driving around and realizing that there are people in the world that don’t know there’s a NASCAR race going on. I think that was a weird thing for me.
“I’m at the grocery store and I’m like ‘Man, none of these people know that there’s a race going on right now.’ So, that part of it was weird. Weekends were weird.
“It’s really weird being here today.”
It’s weird because he was watching his car circle around Martinsville Speedway while he was sitting atop the timing stand on pit road.
“Watching somebody else drive the No. 48 car on Sunday’s was the hardest part,” Bowman said. “That’s not fun by any means. It was really interesting, honestly. I think at first, you kind of feel – not forgotten about – but it’s just weird not going to the race track.
“I think seeing somebody else drive was definitely the least fun part.”
Bowman explained his recovery from the concussion and how the first signs that something was wrong came from his eyes. He didn’t suffer a traditional headache, as much as pressure behind and around his eyes.
It also got worse when he stared at computer and television screens. That is when he realized something was wrong.
He identified what was going on and sought out a doctor.
“The recovery was definitely different from I guess what I would have assumed for concussions,” he explained. “I got back into my regular routine of training pretty quickly. Just added things for my ocular and vestibular systems to try to catch them back up. It’s a long process and a couple of flights back and forth to Pittsburgh to see the guys up there. But everybody was super helpful. I got more text messages and advice than I knew what to do with honestly.
“But I feel 100 percent. I’ve been training harder than ever for the last couple weeks, honestly, so probably in a better spot than I was before I crashed. I’m really excited to get back.”
The timing of the crash, happening in the Playoffs, made it a difficult decision for Bowman to step out of the race car. In fact, it didn’t enter his mind until he started having issues a few days after the crash at Texas.
“I’m in the middle of the playoffs. I’m not a doctor. ‘Did I just get my bell rung? Do I have a concussion?’ Like I don’t know what’s going on or what that feels like,” Bowman recalled. “So, I don’t think it hurt me more. I’m glad that nothing else happened throughout the rest of the day, and it all ended up being okay.
“It’s a bummer. I think that’s just part of the NextGen car. It’s so tough. The car wasn’t very damaged at all, so we were able to keep going and honestly keep going at the speed that we could have been okay if we weren’t a bunch of laps down.”
Bowman was asked by SPEED SPORT if he felt any fogginess or brain lag? In fact, he didn’t feel many of the traditional concussion symptoms.
“Like all of the concussion symptoms that I have heard of throughout my career – heard people talking about like the nausea and stuff like that – I didn’t have any of,” Bowman said. “I just had a lot of pressure in my eyes. It was almost like when your sinuses are plugged up or whatever, and you kind of get that that sinus headache and that pressure behind your eyes. I would get that from workouts or from any activities that I was busy doing.
“That was the biggest thing that took a while. I think from what the doctors said, obviously the concussion kind of hurts the weakest points of your body. I had some vision stuff going on that I don’t think I really knew what it was. Like my vision is not weak, but Dr. Mickey Collins says concussions fight dirty, so it went for a weak point with me and messed with my ocular system. I think that was the thing that took the longest to recover from.”
Bowman indicated the hit in the NextGen car was “solid” and as hard a hit as he ever experienced in a race ar. But he physically felt fine until days later.
“By Tuesday, I felt 100 percent and I felt totally fine,” Bowman recalled. “Wednesday, when it kind of hit me by the end of the day that I was hurting and having that that pain in my eyes that that turned into a headache; in my head I’m like ‘that’s not normal’. I talked to some others that have had been through similar things and kind of gathered the similarities were there. So, I knew when I went to the doctor that was a possibility. They definitely identified it very quickly.”
Bowman is from Phoenix. That’s where the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season ends on November 6. His goal was to recover in time to make it to the final race of the season.
“I think for me, having a goal to get back to was important,” Bowman said. “As far as how hard I’ve had to work to get to this point, it was pretty difficult. It was 6 a.m. workouts every day, followed by another 9 a.m. workout every day. I’ve worked really hard. I think if I didn’t have the possibility to get back this year, it would have been easier to kind of push those things off and not work as hard. But on top of that, the doctors have said that I’m 100 percent. So, I think if there was any hesitation there, it would be different.
“There was a lot of motivation to get back for a Phoenix race; my last race with Greg (Ives) as a crew chief. I didn’t want to go out how Texas went with Greg. I don’t want to sit all off-season questioning it. I want to get back in the race car. So, when the doctor said I was 100 percent, I trust them. I’m going off of what they say, and I don’t think there was any hesitation there and they said I’m good to go.
“I think there’s going to be improvements made. I don’t think safety ever ends. It’s always an evolving thing. Hopefully we’ll get to a point where we’re better than where we are today.”