Alex Bowman to Miss Las Vegas NASCAR Cup Race; Allgaier In

CONCORD, N.C. — Hendrick Motorsports confirmed Wednesday morning that Alex Bowman will not race in the March 15 NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Justin Allgaier will fill in for Bowman and race the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet in this Sunday's Pennzoil 400. 

Bowman missed last week's race at Phoenix Raceway due to symptoms of vertigo. He began experiencing symptoms during the previous week's race at Circuit of the Americas, which forced him out of the car with 24 laps to go in that race. 

According to Hendrick Motorsports, Bowman is still waiting to get medically cleared.

“Alex continues to work closely with doctors toward being medically cleared, but he’s still experiencing some lingering symptoms,” said Jeff Andrews, president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports. “He’s put a lot into the recovery process, and we will continue to support him every step of the way. Our priority remains making sure Alex is fully ready before returning to the race car.”

Anthony Alfredo filled in for Bowman at Phoenix. Alfredo started slow, going a lap down in the opening stage. However, he found his way back onto the lead lap and into the top-10 before a crash took him out of the race in the final stage.

In the previous day's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race, Allgaier picked up the win. He also won the NOAPS race at Las Vegas last March. 

Hendrick Motorsports will request a medical waiver to allow Bowman to remain eligible for the Cup championship. It's unclear how long he will be out.

Bowman's time in the No. 48 car has been plagued with issues.

After a four-win season in 2021, his first year in the car, he quickly won in 2022 and had a strong start to the Chase. Then, in the fourth Chase race, at Texas Motor Speedway, a crash sidelined him with a concussion for five weeks. 

After racing in the 2022 season finale at Phoenix, Bowman came back in 2023 and had one of his best starts to a season of his career. He led the points for multiple weeks and was well inside the top-10 in points when he was involved in a sprint car crash that left him with a back injury. The injury sidelined him for multiple weeks and led to him missing the Chase.

In 2024, Bowman finally broke through to win a race and make the Chase for the first time since 2022. He had advanced to the third round of the Chase – until post-race inspection at the Charlotte Roval took him out of championship contention.

Bowman was 36th in Cup points after three tough weeks to start the 2026 season before having to sit out two weeks – and possibly longer.