{"id":13755,"date":"2023-08-16T00:37:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T05:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=13755"},"modified":"2023-08-16T00:37:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T05:37:13","slug":"denny-hamlin-wonders-if-alex-bowmans-back-injury-is-affecting-his-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/denny-hamlin-wonders-if-alex-bowmans-back-injury-is-affecting-his-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin wonders if Alex Bowman\u2019s back injury is affecting his racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the heels of five straight appearances in the NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series playoffs, Alex Bowman sits outside the cutline in 2023, winless and needing a victory with two regular season races remaining to keep his championship hopes alive. <\/p>\n

Bowman\u2019s No. 48 Chevy has failed to be a major player on most race days, leading many to speculate as to what\u2019s gone wrong for the 30-year-old. Fellow Cup Series star Denny Hamlin offered a potential reasoning on his \u201cActions Detrimental<\/a>\u201d podcast Monday, pointing to Bowman\u2019s back injury from earlier this season. <\/p>\n

Having gone through back injuries during his career, Hamlin said it\u2019s possible that Bowman\u2019s feel for the car hasn\u2019t been there since missing three races after suffering a fractured vertebra. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a chronic back issue, and I did all throughout 2023 after I had the vertebrae problem,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cAlex had the same issue, and I\u2019m wondering if he\u2019s recovering from that. You have to feel the edge of the car from your underside. If you have back problems and you\u2019re continuously locked down and tense, it prohibits your ability to feel the edge of the car\u2026 This guy is coming off an injury that is significant, and significant to what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Bowman snaps out of slump with impressive showing at IMS Road Course<\/h2>\n

Bowman showed signs of coming out of his season-long slump during Sunday\u2019s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard. He raced his way to a fifth place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course \u2014 his first top-10 finish since April and first since returning from his injury. <\/p>\n

Hamlin believes it\u2019s a sign that Bowman is starting to feel better again. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlex probably isn\u2019t gonna make excuses, but I think this is a good indication that he\u2019s getting healthier and he\u2019s starting to get in a better place,\u201d Hamlin said.<\/p>\n

Bowman, meanwhile, felt relieved to record a solid finish at the IMS Road Course. <\/p>\n

\u201cA top-five finish is good after the last couple of months,\u201d Bowman said after the race. \u201cJust proud of the whole No. 48 Ally Chevy team. We fell off a little too hard there in the end of the run before that, but that last run we were really fast. We had a little mechanical issue there at the end, but we were able to hang onto fifth. Always want more, but it was a good, solid day for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Denny Hamlin wonders if Alex Bowman\u2019s back injury is affecting his racing<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the heels of five straight appearances in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Alex Bowman…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}