Alex Bowman, who has enjoyed his most consistent start to a season over the first 10 races, suffered a broken vertebra in a sprint-car race Tuesday night and is expected to be out at least three weeks.
Josh Berry will replace Bowman during his recovery starting this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway in his second relief role for Hendrick Motorsports this year. Berry competed in five races while Chase Elliott was out with a broken leg.
Bowman suffered the compression fracture in his back when his race car flipped at 34 Raceway, an Iowa dirt track, as part of the High Limit Racing Series, a high-paying sprint-car series recently co-founded by Bowman teammate Kyle Larson.
Bowman was treated before heading home and then evaluated Wednesday morning in Charlotte.
“We’re relieved Alex is home, in good spirits and getting world-class treatment,” team owner Rick Hendrick said in a statement. “Giving him ample time and the foremost resources to heal is our top priority. He’s having a tremendous season, and the No. 48 is at the top of its game.
“We know what Josh is capable of in the race car and that [crew chief] Blake [Harris] and the team will continue operating at a high level until Alex is ready to return. He has our full, unequivocal support.”
The team said Bowman is “expected to miss three-to-four weeks,” meaning he would be out this weekend at Dover and at least the following two weeks at Kansas Speedway and Darlington Raceway. The next week is the exhibition NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Whether Berry, if he is needed, would get Bowman’s automatic berth to the main event or have to qualify through the last-chance race for drivers who have not earned a spot is still to be determined.
Bowman, who turned 30 on Tuesday, is ninth in the Cup standings with a 41-point cushion on the current playoff cutoff. He would be second in the standings with a cushion of 101 points if not for a 60-point penalty earlier this year for what NASCAR said was a violation to the body area near the windshield.
While he has three top-5s and six top-10s this year, Bowman has not won yet this year, meaning his 2023 playoff hopes will depend on when he can return. The playoffs consist of a 16-driver field made up by the regular-season champion and then the next 15 drivers based on number of wins with ties broken by points. Last year, only one spot ended up being available on points.
Bowman would need a waiver from NASCAR’s rule requiring drivers to attempt to qualify for each event. NASCAR wouldn’t rule on that waiver until Bowman is cleared to return to racing, but receiving that waiver would likely be a formality.
It will be the second consecutive year that Bowman has missed races because of injury. He missed five races in the playoffs last year because of a concussion.
Bowman has seven career Cup victories and has made the playoffs all five years he has raced at Hendrick.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
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