Alex Bowman (Vertigo) Out At Las Vegas, Allgaier To Fill In

Alex Bowman will miss his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series event as he continues to recover from vertigo. Justin Allgaier will get the nod to compete for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team.

Alex Bowman will sit out of the NASCAR Cup Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he continues to recover from vertigo. Justin Allgaier will compete in his place. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

Alex Bowman will miss his second straight NASCAR Cup Series event, as he'll sit out this weekend's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bowman, who started experiencing symptoms of vertigo inside the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at Circuit of the Americas on March 1, continues to work on getting medically cleared to return to the track.

Justin Allgaier, the 2024 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series champion and winner of last week's O'Reilly event at Phoenix Raceway, will fill in for Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team this week.

Hendrick Motorsports issued a statement along with the announcement indicating that while Bowman has made progress toward being medicall cleared that he's still experiencing lingering symptoms, which necessitated another week out of the car.

“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.”

The 32-year-old Bowman has eight career NASCAR Cup Series wins, 46 top-five finishes, and 112 top-10s through 364 career starts.

Bowman's vertigo symptoms forced him from the car on Lap 71 of the March 1 event at Circuit of the Americas, where he made way for Myatt Snider, a part-time competitor in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

After not being medically cleared to return for the event last weekend at Phoenix Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports named Anthony Alfredo, the team's simulator driver and a full-time NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver, as Bowman's fill-in for that race. And while Alfredo's race started rocky, late in the event, Alfredo had worked his way inside of the top-10. Unfortunately, his day ended early in a crash not of his doing on Lap 218.

Allgaier, 39, is a 29-time race winner in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and he won the O'Reilly event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last March. Allgaier also is coming off of a win in last weekend's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Phoenix.