Is It Worth The Risk For Alex Bowman To Race This Weekend?

1. Is it worth it for Alex Bowman to race this weekend?

As of this moment, we don’t know if Alex Bowman will race this weekend at the ROVAL. Having been granted a playoff waiver, he can advance to the Round of 8, but needs to win Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Given that Kurt Busch has still not returned to the track after his concussion at Pocono, there’s no concrete way to know whose concussion symptoms are worse. What we do know is Bowman took a big enough hit at Texas to place him under concussion protocol.

Sure, the Charlotte ROVAL does not have the high speeds of Talladega when you crash, but the wrecks involving Busch and Bowman were not the savage impacts of plate races, either, and it was enough to sideline them.

Rushing back too soon from injury is a risk, and it’s an even greater one with concussions — ask the Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailola. Ask a physician who deals with head injuries, and they will likely tell you that there is no such thing as a minor head injury.

Bowman is a longer shot than other playoff drivers like Austin Cindric and Christopher Bell who also need a win or at least a strong run to advance to the Round of 8. That’s too big of a risk for Hendrick Motorsports to take for Bowman’s future.

2. Should fireproof underwear be required?

During Saturday afternoon’s Chevrolet Silverado 250, those watching either live or after the fact saw one of the more harrowing sites in recent memory when it comes to NASCAR as Jordan Anderson‘s truck not only caught fire, but he leapt from the burning vehicle as it neared the inside retaining wall.

Luckily, Anderson’s injuries ended up being relatively minor though very painful, but the fact that a driver had multiple second-degree burn injuries should remind emphasize the fact that wearing an underlayer of fireproof protection underneath a firesuit should be mandatory, and there should be a universal standard across the sport.

Look, I love Noah Gragson‘s unassuming, take yourself not too seriously personality. That’s what makes him great for the sport. It’s a lot like Eddie Calvin “Nuke” Laloosh’s insistence in Bull Durham to wear shower shoes with fungus on them.

But what’s not great for the sport is drivers being bare-chested underneath their firesuits.

For a sport that claims to care about driver safety and claims to put it at the forefront, this is an area where corners should be cut around. End of discussion.

3. Was FS1’s coverage of…