NASCAR: Alex Bowman injury ends Next Gen myth

The fact that Alex Bowman is set to miss a race with concussion-like symptoms proves it’s not just the older NASCAR Cup Series drivers affected by Gen 7 wrecks.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman announced Thursday that he will not be competing in Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

The 29-year-old Tucson, Arizona native has been experiencing concussion-like symptoms since his single-car wreck in this past Sunday’s round of 12 opener at Texas Motor Speedway.

Set to replace him behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet in this 188-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval is Noah Gragson, who had been set to drive the #62 Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports.

Bowman spun late in stage one and made contact with the wall, though he was able to continue running and finished in 29th place.

We have heard drivers of all ages express concerns with soreness after wrecking in the Next Gen car, but the only two drivers to miss any time thus far have been quadragenarians.

23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch, 44, remains sidelined following his single-car wreck in qualifying for the race at Pocono Raceway back in July. His missed race tally is set to reach 11 this weekend.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, 41, was set to make his annual Xfinity Series start at Darlington Raceway back in early September, but he sat it out as a result of soreness he was experiencing following a multi-car wreck at Daytona International Speedway.

Not that they weren’t taken seriously to begin with, but Bowman’s injury sheds a whole new light on just how bad these wrecks have become.

The fact that a 29-year-old is sidelined for what effectively amounts to an indefinite amount of time, as his statement merely indicates that he hopes to return “as soon as possible”, after a seemingly minor wreck which wasn’t even bad enough to knock him out of the race, shows that NASCAR has a bigger problem than even the Gen 7 car’s most ardent critics once thought.

It’s not just the old guys who are affected by this. It is — and until anything changes, it can be — anybody. And there have been many who have been quite vocal about it.

As for his playoff positioning, which has understandably taken a back seat to his health, Bowman will more than likely be in a must-win situation at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval if he only misses one race.

He was already set to enter this Sunday’s race 26 points below the round of 8 cut line, making him the lowest ranking driver of the 12 still eligible to win the championship. But there is no guarantee that he would even be cleared to return for that race.

He has been granted a medical waiver to ensure his playoff eligibility isn’t lost by his missed start this weekend, but he would be eliminated by missing next weekend’s race as well since it is the final race of the round of 12.

While not eligible for Cup Series points himself as a full-time Xfinity Series driver, Gragson will still be able to score points for the #48 team in the owner championship. The #48 team sits in last of the remaining 12 teams in contention for the owner title, but only 19 points below the round of 8 cut line.