The growing uncertainty around Alex Bowman‘s future has taken a new twist. As he is diagnosed with vertigo and is set to miss the upcoming race at Vegas, Rick Hendrick has now turned to a familiar name from Dale Jr.’s JR Motorsports.

As per the latest update, Justin Allgaier is set to drive the No. 48 car this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Alex Bowman’s stead. This will be Allgaier’s second Cup Series start after the Daytona 500 this year.

Currently the best O’Reilly driver according to standings, Justin Allgaier is pretty accomplished to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. He is a veteran racer having won 29 races as of recently in the O’Reilly Series. His most recent victory came last Saturday at Phoenix Raceway.

While the team focuses on Bowman’s recovery, they are trying their best to mitigate his absence. With major crashes in the first two races of this season, Bowman sits in 36th place in the driver standings. As for Justin Allgaier, this won’t be the first time racing for Rick Hendrick. He has previously substituted Jimmie Johnson in 2020 and Kyle Larson in 2024.

Allgaier’s first Cup outing this season wasn’t exactly good. He was involved in a nasty wreck that endangered the entire field. However, he is ready to look beyond those initial woes with O’Reilly success and his history of winning the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

On the other hand, the current situation mirrors Bowman’s 2022 campaign. That time, he ended up missing five races straight due to a concussion. Bowman would again stay absent for three weeks in the following season due to a vertebral injury.

For now, it seems like Bowman is far away from his best season in the Cup Series. 2020 was the last year he had a really good season, as he ended up finishing in P6 in the driver standings. The other drivers and veterans like Denny Hamlin are already counting him out of the season, owing to his history of underperforming and the Chase format’s obligations.

It is a massive blow to his hopes of renewing his contract with Rick Hendrick and co. this year. In front of powerhouse, championship-caliber teammates, Bowman’s resume falls short of wins and meaningful seasons, even though it is because of a string of unlucky injuries.

Bowman’s last replacement at Hendrick Motorsports was Anthony Alfredo. Alfredo was doing well in Phoenix until he got involved in a wreck. Before his race-ending crash, Anthony Alfredo was running in P7 and looking forward to a top-10 finish from Phoenix Raceway.

His performance earned him the approval from Denny Hamlin, who was highly appreciative of his skills.

Denny Hamlin applauds Alfredo as the worthy substitute

Denny Hamlin is highly supportive of Alex Bowman during his time of crisis. He understands the implications of watching someone racing in your shoes. During his podcast, Hamlin’s words reflect his respect towards Bowman.

“The guy is wearing your jersey, and he wears his hair the same as you. It’s like a clone of you because in a car, you don’t see the person; you just see the helmet and the gloves. You see the car. Trust me, it’s very weird as a driver seeing someone else in your suit and in your car. It’s wild and it’s certainly not pleasant.”

At the same time, Hamlin understands that the guy replacing Bowman is not just some random driver. He is very experienced and ready to take up the challenge.

“Tough ask for Anthony. I mean, he is the sim driver over there at Hendrick, and he runs so many Cup laps. He probably has more laps in a Cup car than some of their Cup drivers because of all the sim laps he runs on a weekly basis.

“Tough ask for Anthony but probably the most qualified to do it based on being very familiar with the team. He probably communicates with the team on the regular, giving them feedback on their setups.”

While Alfredo had the necessary know-how from the simulation runs, he was unable to convert it into a great finish last Sunday. Hamlin thinks that it was given, considering the lack of real-world experience. However, in his eyes the way he was driving was very impressive last week.