NASCAR has cleared Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman to rejoin the series this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway after missing nearly a month with a vertigo diagnosis.
The team announced Bowman’s surprise return early this morning, after initially entering substitute driver Justin Allgaier in the No. 48 for this weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Bowman was first affected by his symptoms during the March 1 race at Circuit of the Americas, being pulled from his car early on. Shortly after that race, HMS announced Bowman would miss the next weekend’s race and several more races with vertigo-like symptoms.
In a statement from Bowman, the Cup Series veteran said, “It’s been tough being out of the car, but we all wanted to make sure I was 100% ready before returning. I feel really good, and I’m excited about being at the track with my team and getting back to racing.”
In his first race out of the car at Phoenix Raceway, driver Anthony Alfredo piloted the car, followed up by JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier, who drove the No. 48 for the past three races. In total, the Arizona native missed four races, a stretch that started with the March 8 race at Phoenix and ended two weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway.
During that time, Bowman lost a lot of ground in his pursuit of the NASCAR Chase, currently sitting 36th in points with just 23 points, 144 back of the 16th-place cutoff for the Chase.
With the elimination of NASCAR’s win-and-in system last season, Bowman’s Chase hopes look slim. However, with the 15 additional points awarded to race winners in 2026, Bowman could theoretically build back his standing with a series of wins.
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