NASCAR CUP SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY TRANSCRIPT
JULY 24, 2026
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and Jeff Andrews, President and General Manager of Hendrick Motorsports, addressed the media onsite at Indianapolis Motor Speedway following the recent announcement regarding Bowman’s final full-time NASCAR Cup Series campaign during the 2027 season.
Media Availability Quotes:
Alex, how difficult was it to arrive at this decision? Obviously, there’s a lot of thought that goes into something like this. Did it take you long to land on either coming back at all or deciding to step away?
Bowman: “Yeah, I mean, I think for me, it’s always been in this time frame. I would say like kind of this three-year block. Whether it was 2026, ‘27 or ‘28, that’s something we’ve talked about for a really long time and what I’ve always had circled. I think with what went on in March, I feel like in my head, I had looked at this year being it quite a bit. But yeah, just trying to make the best decision for me and obviously the best decision for Hendrick Motorsports. I think I really want to end on a more positive note than kind of how this year has been, so that gave me a little more motivation to come back and go one more year. I think it is better for me, personally. It’s better for Hendrick Motorsports.
It’s been a lot of fun. Obviously, it’s been a dream come true to get to drive for HMS and work with everybody there. We’re doing our best to end this year strong and have a really strong year next year.”
There’s kind of a theory that when a driver is ready to retire, that it’s very difficult to do all the work and handle all of everything that’s required. I’m curious, how are you going to handle these next 51 weeks or 51 races without feeling like you just want to hang it up there?
Bowman: “You just made that number sound really big… that got depressing (laughs).
No, for me, I’m doing more work right now than I ever have at any point in my entire career, between doing PT on my back every single day and all the work that that has taken to stay in the racecar. I’m training harder than I ever have. I signed up for some road bike climb challenge thing with Josh (Wise) that I’m highly regretting at this point. I’m walking like a baby deer because my legs are sore from this week (laughs).
But yeah, I think for me, coming out and saying it and being like ‘next year’s it’ makes it easier to be all in for the next 53 weeks. I mean, I’m ready to rip. I’ve always been all in. I’m not worried about not wanting to do the work. I think that has never been a problem for me and I’m excited to have 53 more chances at it.”
Why not just say, hey, I’ve signed a one-year deal with Hendrick and open the possibility that if things go great that you might continue racing?
Bowman: “I mean, because I’m just not going to continue racing. I would love to end on a really high note. Like, I mean, everything goes perfect and we go win a championship and I can walk out that way… that would be amazing, right? That’s not going to make me want to stay. I think for me – health-wise, mental health-wise, kind of everything – this is what I needed to do that was best for me and things I want to do outside of the car.
I think also, if it was my choice, I wouldn’t have made a retirement announcement. I would have just raced until the end of next year and disappeared, but that’s not how this sport works. So, it’s part of what we do to make an announcement like this. I’m excited to kind of end the questions and go to work.”
We’ve seen athletes, not only in racing but other sports as well, with injuries like this and just sustained injuries over time, they make a decision and say, alright, this is the last season because they can’t really do it any further just because of their health and all that. For you, why was it that you decided next year you’re going to retire instead of this year given some of the health problems that you’ve had in the past?
Bowman: “Yeah, I don’t think physical health is a number one contributor here in this situation for me. Obviously, I’ve had my fair share of injuries, but I can still do it. I still feel like I can do it and I think with everything that we’ve figured out through the course of this season, everybody helping me in the athletic center with PT every day, I think I’m in a good spot there and can continue doing it. I think for me, much more of it is things I want to do outside of the racecar; other goals I have in life and stuff I want to do. If it was straight up like I can’t do this any more, it probably would have been this year. But I do feel like I can continue to do it at a high level. Hopefully, we can go prove that.”
Alex, it was July 14, 2016, when you were named to fill in as an interim driver for Dale Jr. in the Cup Series when he had his concussion. Then, a year later, July 20, was when you were named a full-time HMS driver for 2018. From those moments leading up to right now, tell us what the journey’s been like and what are some top moments you’re going to remember as you look forward to finishing off leading up to 2027?
Bowman: “Yeah, I mean, it has been a journey, for sure. It hasn’t gone exactly how I would have hoped, I guess, in some ways. But at the same time, I’ve learned so much. I’ve grown so much as a person. I’ve got to be teammates with some incredible people; learn from some awesome people and be a part of an amazing organization. It’s been a lot of fun. Even though the stat sheet might not read what I want it to read, it’s still been great in a lot of ways. In 2016, before I filled in, I was broke; selling my seats to pay rent and barely getting by. To end up at Hendrick Motorsports for a decade, it’s been incredible. It’s been a lot of fun, and it means a lot to have the support of everybody at HMS.”
Alex, when you said you would just like to race and then just disappear, does that mean that you’re not possibly considering a post-racing career in broadcasting? Jeff, how long did it take you all to convince him to come back for next year? How many months did you talk to him about that?
Bowman: “I don’t know that anybody wants to listen to me on the broadcast, if I’m being honest (laughs). 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 yeah, I don’t know. Maybe. I plan to stay at Hendrick Motorsports, probably on the performance side, and do some stuff there. There are some other cars that I want to go race and drive some really fun stuff. But yeah, I hadn’t really thought about broadcasting, and broadcasting probably hadn’t really thought about me. But I’m not saying never.”
Andrews: “I think from a time standpoint, there was never really a definitive date to which we said, ‘hey, we’re going to start talking about this now, and we need to finish and have a decision by this date’. As Alex has stated, this is a process. For us, this is really understanding and listening to what Alex wanted and how Alex wanted to go out. He’s been with us for 10-11 years now and he’s family. We want to do the right thing for him and allow him to write his story as he exits this sport. We were fully supportive of whatever those terms were, along with our great partner at Ally. They’re part of this decision, and I know they are looking forward to next year and really celebrating this with Alex as he goes into retirement.
But you mentioned it and I said it before – Alex is family. There are certainly some other opportunities within the Hendrick organization on the performance side. You know, he’s a car guy. He loves cars and he loves to go fast. Mr. Hendrick has quite a few cars, as we know, so there’s a tie there. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alex is around our campus and part of the Hendrick family for quite some time after next year.”
How do former drivers contribute to Hendrick Motorsports? I mean, Jeff Gordon is a super example of that, but what kind of role do you see in former drivers?
Andrews: “I think we feel like there’s always a mentorship role, an opportunity there, for our drivers who have experience. They have all kinds of things to offer, whether it be at or away from the racetrack. I mean, we certainly have been very fortunate to have quite a few guys that have gone through our program. You look at Jimmie (Johnson) and you mentioned Jeff (Gordon). There are always opportunities there within our company for those kind of individuals to have an impact on our younger drivers and be out there on the lookout for who’s next and what opportunities might be out there for the future of Hendrick Motorsports. Right now, we’re obviously focused on Alex and excited about our final year together with him in 2027 on the racetrack. We’re really excited that he would want to continue to be part of our family after that.”
You referenced your back and the amount of physical therapy you’re having to do on that. How much would you say that the sprint car wreck you had in 2023 has lingered over the past three years for you?
Bowman: “Yeah, honestly, I would argue that Michigan last year did as much damage. I think since then is kind of when everything’s popped back up and I have had to be constantly working through that. I mean, breaking your back isn’t good by any means. I think I was in a pretty good spot until Michigan last year. So, yeah, since then, it’s just been a lot of work to kind of try to stay on the right side of things. You know, post-Michigan and Mexico and kind of everything that went on there, I probably got it to an okay spot. And then, I kind of forgot about it; let it build up and it kind of took a minute to get it back under control this year. I have a lot of really smart people helping me kind of work through all that stuff. Some days are good, some days hurt, but that’s life.”
Jeff (Gluck) referenced that you were in a really bad midget car accident when you were 16 years old. Did that affect you in any way that maybe we didn’t see or really didn’t think about the past dozen or so years, or did that not really come into consideration?
Bowman: “No, I don’t think that really affected anything. I was pretty young. I was pretty messed up after that one, but that was a really long time ago. I think concussions definitely stack up, right? We all know that. I’ve had my fair share, unfortunately. But this really isn’t a physical thing. I think if I would have had no injuries over the last 10 years, this time frame was still going to be this time frame. This is kind of always what I wanted. This sport has given me a lot. I love this sport, obviously. I love NASCAR racing. I think the guys that race forever, that’s super cool. That just was never going to be me. I’m excited for what the rest of my life holds. I’m honestly really just ready to be a normal person, in a lot of ways. So, yeah, I think my back’s okay, and we’ll keep digging on it.”
Obviously, today is about Alex and what’s next for him. But that obviously means that there’s going to be an opening in the No. 48 car. How does Hendrick Motorsports go about finding its next driver for that team?
Andrews: “Yeah, I think we’re fortunate enough that we don’t go through this all that often at Hendrick Motorsports. And when these cycles do happen, obviously there’s a process there of looking for someone with the right fit, not only from a performance standpoint, but for our company and our culture.
And so, again, today, as you mentioned, is about Alex. And in the near future, it’ll be about Alex and his story. We’ll begin that process on what’s next for the No. 48 team in 2028 very soon.”
Jeff, for an organization like yours built on winning, it’s been 10 races since your last win. How do you guys assess things where they are right now?
Andrews: “Well, I think the standards of Hendrick Motorsports are, of course, to win races and compete for championships. Two wins at this time of the season is certainly below where we’d want to be. What I am most proud of is the effort that’s being put back into these racecars. All the men and women at Hendrick Motorsports are working so hard to get that better. I can tell you it’s not for lack of effort. We’re learning a lot every week that we go to the racetrack with the new body on this car. Our goal is to continue that inch forward, so to speak, and by the time we get to the Chase, be ready to compete for wins and compete for that championship.
There’s a lot of fight in this company and there’s a lot of passion in this company. That’s the people. The important thing for us is to make sure that we keep the morale up, we keep fighting and we keep working hard.
We admit that we’ve got some work to do, and certainly weekends like last weekend were unfortunate circumstances. But that is racing. Sometimes you’re on the wrong end of those things. We’re going to continue to work hard and keep our heads down. We believe in the direction we’re going and the results will come.”
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