Bowman opens up on mental health as life in NASCAR | Sports News

NASCAR Cup Series race winner Alex Bowman is all too conscious of the significance of preserving your thoughts in order.

Having simply accomplished his eighth full-time season with Hendrick Motorsports, the 32-year-old faces pressures many can solely think about, driving inches away from concrete boundaries at high speeds with thousands and thousands watching all for one of the largest groups in the game. 

But fortunately for Bowman, not solely is racing nonetheless thrilling for him at this stage in his profession, regardless of the high stakes, but it surely additionally helps relieve his nervousness, one thing he just lately admitted to having “battled with,” as per Forbes.

“I think mental health awareness is super important for anyone across the board. Doesn’t matter if you are a competitive athlete or a regular person,” he stated, having joined the Ad Council’s “Love, Your Mind” Playbook marketing campaign, which additionally counts different high-profile athletes such as Bijan Robinson, Liv Morgan, Cam Heyward, Francisco Lindor, Diego Luna, and a sure Chase Elliott, amongst its ranks.

Bowman described the choice to affix the marketing campaign as an “easy” one, explaining that “awareness is something that matters to me a lot.” As he eloquently went on to put it, “Mental health is something that’s different for everybody. We all struggle with something, but who you surround yourself with plus how you take care of yourself means a lot.”

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For Bowman, taking care of himself can imply spending time at home, the place he stated he enjoys “working in my shop on my cars,” including, “And I have three dogs. All that keeps me at peace.”

That being stated, given his chosen career, there’s sure to be rigidity and frustration attributed to every occasion in its own distinctive approach, noting how “racing as a sport can ebb and flow.”

The Arizona native went on to say, “From my vantage point, as a driver, how I take care of myself can really determine longevity in the sport. You have to take care of your mind through a lot of that — or it gets bad pretty quick.”

And when it will get unhealthy in NASCAR, it could possibly get actually unhealthy, whether or not that is in the shape of a bump on the monitor or an altercation on pit highway. Bowman admitted that on-track incidents may be gotten previous shortly, whether or not it’s one thing that simply passes with time or requires a speak later on. 

“Then, sometimes you have an issue with the same person, and it can kind of linger and end badly, depending on who it is,” he stated. “Every situation is different. But sometimes drivers can hold grudges, and you can have (an incident) come up again haunt somebody, say, 15 weeks later, lingering with someone else.”

Much just like the mild-mannered Bowman, any individual others seem to have a arduous time being pissed off by is Elliott, the eight-time Most Popular Driver Award winner.

“I think I’ve always tried to keep my eyes on things that are really important in my life, close friends, family, really keeping my circle small, just eliminating those outside distractions and opinions that don’t matter, and really putting emphasis on the opinions and folks that you have a lot of respect for. I find a lot of value in that,” the 29-year-old instructed the Ad Council in 2024. 

“I’ve been fortunate throughout my life to have a lot of really solid individuals to lean on. I encourage anybody that if you have someone that you look up to or enjoy being around to listen to what they have to say and let those people lead by example because you can learn a lot by just listening.”