Alex Bowman is in a spot that no driver wants to be in. He sat out the race in Las Vegas on Sunday, the second consecutive Cup Series race he has missed this season. Hendrick Motorsports revealed that he has been struggling with vertigo.
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Bowman’s health took a turn for the worse after the brutal race at the Circuit of the Americas on March 1. And he has been missing in action since then, skipping the races in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
HMS announced that Bowman was working actively to recover from his condition and recover. Simulation driver Anthony Alfredo filled in for him in Phoenix. He was expected to recover ahead of the race in Las Vegas and return to the No. 48 Chevy Camaro, but that did not happen. Justin Allgaier was announced as his replacement in Nevada.
The JR Motorsports regular drove the car to a disappointing 25th-place finish. Allgaier spoke to the press after the race and detailed how Bowman’s recovery was going.
“To get into the car. That’s our goal, right? At the end of the day. My hope is that he is ready for Darlington,” said Allgaier.
“I don’t know what it looks like. Alex is probably going to be the only one who knows that. He is extremely tough and resilient. Probably battled stuff we didn’t even know about,” he added.
“Really disappointed in myself [with the] speeding on pit road” @J_Allgaier disappointed in his 25th place finish at Vegas.
He also speaks about the circumstances of driving this weekend.
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— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) March 16, 2026
The biggest priority for both Allgaier and team owner Rick Hendrick is for Bowman to return to full health. Allgaier added that Bowman has been working harder than anyone has ever seen before, targeting a return at Darlington.
Bowman will need to step up his game on return
In the three races he participated in this season, Bowman finished 40th, 23rd, and 36th. These aren’t results worthy of a Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Bowman sits 36th on the points table, a massive 232 points behind the leader, Tyler Reddick. Overcoming this deficit is next to impossible. At this point, even making it to the playoffs and the Chase appears to be a tough task. Denny Hamlin spoke about Bowman on Actions Detrimental.
“I think if you took his median performance over the regular season, you would say that it’s over. If he comes back and runs better than his averages, I think he could make it, which means you’ve got to get a lot of stage points,” said Hamlin.
“He’s going to need to probably win a race,” he added. “Then I think he has a shot. A lot of points can be made up. You can’t just finish good. He’s going to have to run good and finish good, and there is a difference,” he added.
Bowman will need to come back and perform with extremely high consistency to be in contention when the regular season ends. If he is not, his seat at HMS could be at risk.
