Alex Bowman to Miss Phoenix Cup Race due to Vertigo

Phoenix International Raceway (Avondale, Ariz.) — Alex Bowman will miss the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway this weekend (Sunday, 12:30 p.m. ET on FS1) as he continues to suffer from vertigo following last week’s race at Circuit of the Americas.

Anthony Alfredo, who does most of the Hendrick Motorsports simulator work and races full-time in the O’Reilly Series, will replace Bowman in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 car.

Bowman spent two days of being medically evaluated and then drove laps today in a streetcar at the Ten Tenths Motor Club road course in Concord. He has not been cleared to return to racing.

"Alex has worked very hard over the last several days," HMS President Jeff Andrews said in a statement. "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."

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Missing the Phoenix race will be crushing for Bowman, an Arizona native in a contract year who is last among the full-time drivers in the standings, 45 points out of a current playoff spot. He likely will be at least 65 points back following Phoenix.

But Bowman had no choice as he continued to battle vertigo following COTA, where he suddenly struggled during the final stage. The team, without a driver on standby, asked part-time driver Myatt Snider, who was working the pits helping gather information for FOX Sports, to finish the race for Bowman.

This is the third time in the last five seasons that Bowman has had to sit out at least one race because of injury. He missed five races in 2022 because of a concussion and three races in 2023 because of a broken back suffered in a sprint-car race.

If Bowman could start the race and have Alfredo replace him during the event, Bowman would get the points. But with the vertigo, that was not an option.

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Alfredo is typically in line to be the organization’s standby driver as he is familiar with the various setups. It also gives him an opportunity to correlate what he feels in the simulator to an actual race situation in the Hendrick car.

Alfredo has 43 career Cup starts, with most of them coming in 2021 when he drove the full season for Front Row Motorsports.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.