Alex Bowman replies bluntly when discussing struggles since his back injury

Ever since returning from his back injury, Alex Bowman has had a rough go of things in the NASCAR Cup Series. For the Hendrick Motorsports driver, things just haven’t clicked. He had a hot start to the season, but that now seems to have been another lifetime ago. With a precarious spot on the playoff bubble, time could be running out.

Before missing three races this season, Alex Bowman had three top-5s and three top-10s to his record. In fact, outside of the Bristol Dirt Race, he had a season-worst finish of P14. Since his return, Bowman has a best finish of P12 from Charlotte.

In other words, things have not been going well. When Bowman was asked about his recent performances by Dustin Long of NBC Sports, he was very frank.

“To be honest with you I’ve kinda been running like s**t since I broke my back. So just trying to get back to running how I’m supposed to, how I know I’m capable of is the biggest thing for me right now. Kinda get back to where I was at because it’s been a frustrating go of it. If we do that the points will take care of themselves we just haven’t done that yet.”

#NASCAR … Alex Bowman is blunt in describing how he’s run since coming back from his back injury. He looks to today’s race at Chicago to turn things around. pic.twitter.com/EytiTUvPS3

— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) July 2, 2023

The good news for Alex Bowman is that he qualified decently this weekend. For the Chicago Street Race, Bowman will start off P13. His teammate Kyle Larson was able to qualify P7. William Byron and Chae Elliott will start at the rear of the field. Byron’s team repaired damage to his vehicle while Elliott will drive a backup car.

Alex Bowman needs to find his groove

It can be hard for a driver to miss chunks of the season and return like nothing happened. Even Kyle Busch struggled in 2015 before he went on a run to win the championship. Injuries make the sport more difficult. Alex Bowman is no different.

The good news is that after the Chicago Street Race, NASCAR returns to some tracks where Bowman can find success. Atlanta and Watkins Glen are two places where the 48 could pick up points or even compete for a win. He sits right on that bubble with Daniel Suárez and Bubba Wallace close by. Something will have to give, they can’t all make the playoffs.

As the Chicago Street Race gets ready to go green, Bowman is likely hoping to get a top-10 finish. He won’t have a bad starting position, but he could still find himself in trouble depending on how the rest of the field decides to race.

I’m sure Alex Bowman, like the rest of us, is just hoping to see a complete race, unlike the Xfinity Series.