MEXICO CITY — Alex Bowman is sore but suffered no broken bones in his crash last weekend at Michigan that he said registered “50-something (Gs).”
“I don’t know if that’s, on paper, the biggest one I’ve taken,” Bowman said Saturday at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, “but it’s the most painful one I’ve ever taken. Even compared to when I broke my back (in 2023), it’s way more pain than that was.”
Bowman said the pain he experiences is in the right side of his lower back through his right leg.
“Everything is really tight, it’s all muscular,” he said.
With being on and off the gas much around the 15-turn, 2.42-mile course, a driver’s right foot and leg will be busy.
“I don’t think being on and off of the gas has been a challenge,” Bowman said. “I think probably jumping over the curbs as much as we do and as harsh as the Next Gen (car) rides, I think that’s the biggest challenge for me.
“Honestly, making laps doesn’t hurt. Just sitting in that position hurts quite a bit. I’m going to be fine. I’m way better off than I was a couple of days ago.”
Bowman said he won’t have any extra padding in his seat because there’s no room for it.
“Even if I did, I don’t think it would help much,” he said. “It’s more like the position that I’m sitting in. It’s unfortunate, but for as big of a hit that was in Michigan, I’m glad that nothing’s broken, that I’m as OK as I am. I think going to a road course after (that crash) probably makes it tougher than like an oval would but not a big deal.”
Hendrick Motorsports has stated that Anthony Alfredo will be on standby should Bowman need to exit the car.
The focus for Bowman is to turn around his season. Seven finishes of 27th or worse in the last nine races has dropped him from third to 13th in the points entering Sunday’s race.
“My goal is to make all the laps this weekend, that’s kind of first and foremost,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see how much better we’ve got our car (Saturday) vs. (Friday). And what goes on in the race.
“I think there’s a lot of different elements to this race with heating and cooling, like brakes overheating and stuff like that. Our car didn’t have a lot of raw speed, but I think we’re on the good side of some of those issues that other people had.
“ … Definitely an opportunity for us to go run well. It’s been a pretty miserable two months. Just trying to kind of get things turned around and pointed in the right direction.”