Jeff Gordon: Alex Bowman's injuries have 'helped him motivate himself'

Alex Bowman's win in Chicago didn't just lock him into the NASCAR Cup Playoffs, but it also broke an 80-race winless streak and serves as just another example of why you never give up.

After winning four races in 2021 and winning out of the gate in 2022, a concussion during the 2022 playoffs derailed Bowman's season. In 2023, Bowman led the points early in the year before a back injury effectively ended his season, resulting in Bowman missing the playoffs.

NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsports executive Jeff Gordon spoke about Bowman's resilience on Sunday, saying that winning in the Cup Series only gets tougher when injuries begin to pile up.

"Race car drivers come up and they have accidents," Gordon said. "Sometimes you have injuries. You find out how tough you are, mentally and physically, and how bad you want to do it. Alex has been through a few significant injuries, and he's come back stronger each time.

"I think it's helped him motivate himself and find out how much he loves what he does," Gordon continued. "That means that he's got to work very hard to recover. I think through that, of course, you're going to have some setbacks. Just being away from your team, even for a week or two weeks and not being at the track affects drivers these days.

"We saw something similar with Chase Elliott," Gordon said, referring to Elliott's leg injury in 2023. "It's not always necessarily the physical piece of it. This is tough. It's hard to win, very hard to win. The cars are hard to drive. It's hard to get the whole team all together at the perfect time.

"It's very difficult (to win). Then you add in an injury, or some significant injuries like Alex has had to deal with, and yeah, it's going to set you back. It's going to take some time to get back to 100%, not just physically but with your team."

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.