No, Alex Bowman doesn’t have a future in broadcasting after his retirement from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition after the 2027 season.
“I don’t know that anybody wants to listen to me on the broadcast, if I’m being honest,” said Bowman during a press conference on Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I don’t know. I don’t know that I would be any good at that. That looks really hard. The broadcasting thing, I would say some dumb stuff and probably get fired pretty quickly. I can’t believe that hasn’t happened to me in my driving career.”
But at 33-years-old, and with just one more season remaining after signing a contract extension to end his career, it’s a fair question to wonder what Bowman is going to do with his life.
If he had it his way, Bowman would just fade away into relative obscurity, and go live something that resembles a normal life with a job at Hendrick Automotive that allows him to take care of his family.
“But that’s not how this sport works,” Bowman said. “And I think (Hendrick vice president of communications) Jesse Essex would have killed me if I tried to do that. So, it’s part of what we do to make an announcement like this and I’m excited to kind of end the questions and just go to work.”
Bowman has been adamant this week that it isn’t so much the staggered injuries over the past decade that pushed him towards an early retirement as much as it is the desire to have a normal life.
He missed four races this year with a bout of vertigo and has suffered numerous concussions across dirt racing and NASCAR over the past 20 years. He broke his back in 2023, costing him three races, but says a crash at Michigan last year was just impactful as any of those incidents
Instead, Bowman says he never intended to race into his 40s like so many of his peers, wanting to play with his Sprint and Midget Car team while working in exotic cars with team owner Rick Hendrick.
That’s exactly what he is being allowed to do in retiring on his own terms. He currently has eight wins, all with Hendrick Motorsports over the past decade, over a 15-year career that also includes stints at Tommy Baldwin Racing and BK Racing.
Bowman isn’t even going to give himself the wiggle room of racing after 2027.
“I’m just not going to continue racing,” Bowman said bluntly. “I would love to end on a really high note (where) everything goes perfect and we go win a championship and I can walk out that way.
“That would be amazing (but) that’s not going to make me want to stay. And I think for me, health-wise, mental health-wise, kind of everything, this is what I needed to do that would be best for me and the things I want to do outside of the car.”
Hendrick Motorsports president Jeff Andrews says Bowman is effectively a family member and deserves to go out whatever way he chooses before transitioning into a new role with the larger organization.
“Retirement is an old word, but Alex uses it, and Alex is family,” Andrews said. “There are certainly some other opportunities within the Hendrick family, on the performance side, because he is a car guy and loves to go fast.
“Mr. Hendrick has quite a few cars, as we know, and there’s a tie there so I would not be surprised if Alex is around our campus for some time after next year.”
He would be a welcome addition for years to come too. Kyle Larson said Bowman is the best teammate he has ever had in NASCAR. Hendrick himself views Bowman as a son.
All told, Bowman wishes there had been more success over the past decade, but also feels incredibly blessed to have made a career out of something that left him broke and unable to pay his bills in his early 20s.
“I mean, it has been a journey for sure,” Bowman said. “It hasn’t gone exactly as I would have hoped in some ways, but at the same time, I have learned so much. I have grown so much as a person.
“I have gotten to have incredible teammates, learn from some awesome people, and be part of an amazing organization. I have had a lot of fun. Even though the stat sheet might not read how I want it to, it’s still been great in a lot of ways.
“In 2016, before I filled in (for Dale Earnhardt Jr., injured with a concussion), I was broke and selling my seats to pay rent, barely getting by. To end up at Hendrick Motorsports for a decade has been incredible. It means a lot to have the support from everyone at HMS.”
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