Men’s Mental Health Month takes place in June. This month is designed to help break the stigma around male mental illness and encourage men to seek help and be open about their mental health.
In a male-dominated Southern sport such as NASCAR, mental health is often not prioritized. But three of the current NASCAR Cup Series drivers have been open and vulnerable about their mental health. This is the second of three articles spotlighting driver mental health, this time we spotlight Alex Bowman.
Alex Bowman has been a full time NASCAR Cup Series driver since 2018, currently driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro. He has won eight Cup Series races and has made eight playoff appearances. He has also been open about his mental health for years.
2020 Charlotte Roval
Bowman first opened up about his mental health following the 2020 Cup race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. Bowman was fighting for a spot in the Round of 8, and began to feel very anxious. While in the car, his anxiety reached a level to which he needed to be calmed down, and even thought he would throw up while racing.
“Sorry, that’s just anxiety me. Regular Alex will be back shortly.” Bowman reportedly told his team.
The industry knew that Bowman had anxiety, but this was one of the first times it had affected him during a race. Despite his inner battle, Bowman managed to finish in 8th-place, securing his only Round of 8 appearance.
“I feel like it’s not super common in the race car. Before races and high-pressure situations you’ll have that, I guess. I feel like I was just really stressed out. It means a lot to me to make the Round of 8,” Bowman said. “With the race team that Mr. H has given me and put me with, all the resources we have, I feel like it was pretty necessary to make the Round of 8. I don’t know. It means a lot to me and I put a lot of pressure on myself to make that happen.”
Post-race, Bowman addressed the moment on social media.
“Hey everybody, just wanted to say thanks for the support,” the statement read. “Millions of people deal with anxiety and everybody handles it differently. It was a stressful week and I’m glad to be through it and focused on Kansas.”
Hey everybody, just wanted to say thanks for the support. Millions of people deal with anxiety and everybody handles it differently. It was a stressful week and I’m glad to be through it and focused on Kansas.
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) October 12, 2020
The Stigma Continues: Why This Issue Matters
In the past decade, the narrative around male mental health has changed considerably. It became normalized and even encouraged for men to open up. When Bowman’s anxiety struggles were happening, nearly the entire industry rallied behind him.
Support was not unanimous, however. Some fans, along with a NASCAR reporter, criticized the situation on social media. One NASCAR journalist made several tweets with “#AnxietyAlex” in them which received backlash from several inside the racing industry. The reporter then issued an apology via X the next morning.
While not speaking publicly on mental health again for nearly five years, Bowman ran multiple schemes with mental health messaging.
Latest Statements and Looking Forward
In late 2025, Bowman joined the Ad Council’s “Love, Your Mind” Playbook campaign. The 33-year old described joining as “an easy decision”.
“Awareness is something that matters to me a lot,” Bowman explained. “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.”
Racing may be Bowman’s dream job, but it can also be a source of great stress. NASCAR, like any sport, goes in ebbs and flows. Sometimes there is a two-year stretch where a driver will win five races and earn their best career points finish, such as Bowman’s 2020 and 2021 seasons. Other times, a driver may only win once in two seasons and miss time due to injury in back-to-back seasons, like Bowman’s 2022 and 2023 seasons.
“From my vantage point, as a driver, how I take care of myself can really determine longevity in the sport,” Bowman said. “You have to take care of your mind through a lot of that — or it gets bad pretty quick.”
For Bowman, self care means spending time at home, working on his cars and spending time with his beloved dogs.
2026 has been a difficult year for the Tuscon, Arizona native. For the third time in the past five seasons, Bowman has missed time due to injury. A bout of vertigo sidelined him from four races and left him in a deep hole to make the Chase. With ten races to go, the driver of the No. 48 sits over two races worth of points out of the Chase.
Despite this, not all hope is lost. Bowman has a street course win in 2024, has won at Chicagoland Speedway and Richmond Raceway in the past. One of only two top-15 finishes this season was a third at Talladega Superspeedway, and has proven he can get good finishes on that track type with EchoPark Speedway and Daytona International Raceway coming up. It will likely take multiple wins for Bowman to earn his ninth postseason berth, but the possibility remains.
Mental health, as Bowman himself described it, is a very important thing to be aware of from competitive athletes to ordinary people. If you are reading this and need help, there is help out there for you.
If you are looking for someone to talk to in person, text your zip code to 435748 (HELP4U) and services near you will be provided, and if you are looking for help virtually text HELP to 741741 and a trained counselor will respond. To read more about male mental health, read this post from the Nami Help Line.
