NASCAR 2026: Will Alex Bowman race at Darlington on Sunday?

NASCAR Cup Series star Alex Bowman is a doubt for this weekend's race at Darlington Raceway.

The Hendrick Motorsports star has been absent from the series' last two races at Phoenix and Lax Vegas as he recovers from vertigo symptoms.

His team has not yet confirmed his status for Sunday's Cup Series race, but he is on the official entry list which was released this week. However, that's no guarantee that he'll race – as he was also on the early entry list for Las Vegas, before being replaced by Justin Allgaier.

He has, however, been removed from the entry list for Saturday's O'Reilly Series race at Darlington, where he had been slated to run the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevy. The driver for that car is now listed as 'TBA'.

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Alex Bowman has missed two races

Bowman's vertigo issues appeared to begin at COTA at the start of the month, with the No. 48 driver struggling to the point of exiting the car in the final stage to be replaced with an emergency substitute – in that instance Myatt Snider, who was working as a pit spotter for FOX.

When those issues lingered, he was replaced for the following race at Phoenix by Anthony Alfredo before Allgaier stepped in last time out at Las Vegas. It's unclear who would take the seat if Bowman is unable to go this weekend at Darlington.

While Bowman's health is rightly the team's priority, the extended absence has been devastating for his hopes of making the postseason in the first year since the removal of the unpopular 'win and in' system.

Gone are the days when a single race could give someone a postseason berth, and back in is the grind of points accumulation. Unfortunately for Bowman, he now languishes 36th in points on just 23, 94 points below the cut line.