Denny Hamlin assesses Alex Bowman's chances to regain success after suffering similar back injuries

If there’s anybody who knows what it’s like to jump back into a race car after suffering a serious back injury, it’s Denny Hamlin.

It’s been just over a decade since Hamlin suffered a compression fracture after a crash at California Speedway. He missed four races and struggled upon returning to the NASCAR Cup Series. Hamlin didn’t fully regain his ability to feel the car until the end of the 2013 season. He posted only seven top-10 finishes in the final 27 races of the campaign. The 43-year-old eventually did recover, making four appearances in the Championship 4 since then.

Alex Bowman went through similar challenges this past season after suffering a fractured vertebra in a sprint car crash in April. 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. Prior to the injury, Bowman racked up seven victories and made the playoffs each season from 2018-22.

Denny Hamlin confident Alex Bowman will rebound in 2024

Despite the struggles last season, Hamlin believes Bowman is well-equipped to have a resurgence in 2024.

“I am confident in Alex’s ability to get back where he was. I think that this offseason will probably create an opportunity for him to get healthy,” Hamlin said, via John Newby of NBC Sports. “Looking at the timeline of when he had his accident, the start of the season is about when that timeline starts to turn where he probably will start feeling the slips and angles of the car that he once did before. So it’s a restart, refresh and, certainly, both physically and mentally, will be a great reset.”

Bowman himself is looking ahead to next season and the chance at a fresh start.

“I’m looking forward to 24,” Bowman recently told Jonathan Howard of On3. “There’s a couple of changes that I think are going to be really good. 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.”