Man, he just can’t catch a break.
Hendrick Motorsports has announced that Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 car, will miss this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway after suffering from vertigo.
According to a press release from the team, the symptoms started during last weekend’s race at the Circuit of the Americas road course in Austin, Texas, and Bowman “underwent two days of medical evaluation this week and drove laps today in a streetcar at the Ten Tenths Motor Club road course in Concord.”
The team also expressed their support for Bowman as he works to recover:
“Alex has worked very hard over the last several days. We’re encouraged by the progress he’s making, but we have to prioritize his health above all else. It’s obviously frustrating for him because he’s a competitor and wants to be in the race car, especially at his home track. We’ll continue to support Alex and look forward to his return as soon as he’s medically cleared.”Â
Anthony Alfredo will fill in for Bowman this weekend. Alfredo serves as the simulator driver for Hendrick, meaning he does testing for the team in the racing simulator to help with race setups and strategy, and has previously made 43 Cup Series starts of his own.
The setback for Bowman is just the latest bad break he’s suffered during his Cup Series career. Back in 2022, the driver of the #48 car suffered a concussion during a race at Texas and was forced to miss five races. And the following year, he was injured during a sprint car race and ended up missing three races.
Then last weekend, Bowman was forced to get out of his car in the middle of the race after complaining to his team that he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t think he would be able to finish. That sent the #48 team scrambling to try to find a driver who could step into the car for Bowman to finish the remaining laps. And luckily, they were able to find one – on the television crew.
Myatt Snider is a former Xfinity Series (now O’Reilly Series) driver, who completed two full seasons in the series along with one full-time Truck Series season. But he hasn’t been a full-time driver since 2022, although he’s made a handful of lower series starts in the past couple of years.
Instead, he works as a pit road spotter for NASCAR on FOX – basically, he’s the guy who looks for stories and tracks down information for the broadcast crew during a race. And while he’s never made a Cup Series start, Hendrick Motorsports was able to get permission from both FOX and NASCAR to have Snider step into the car for Bowman around lap 71 to finish out the race.
Missing the race at Phoenix also all but guarantees that Bowman will miss the Chase this year, given that he’s already sitting at 36th in points after a tough start to the season. He finished 40th in the season-opening Daytona 500 after a mid-race crash, and a disappointing 23rd at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta the following week. He was then credited with a 36th place finish at COTA after getting out of the car.
Of course this all comes amid seemingly-never ending questions about Bowman’s job security at Hendrick Motorsports. It’s safe to say that Bowman has generally been outperformed by all 3 of his teammates, with Kyle Larson even winning the Cup Series championship last year while Bowman was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.
With Chevrolet having several drivers waiting in the wings, along with other high-profile drivers who could potentially fill the seat if the team does decide to part ways with Bowman, it’s safe to say that missing this race (and potentially more) couldn’t come at a worse time.
But then again, that’s not really important right now as he focuses on his health. Hopefully Bowman’s able to get things figured out quickly and return to the seat next weekend at Las Vegas.
