Alex Bowman Replaced for NASCAR Race at Nashville Superspeedway

This weekend, Alex Bowman fans were looking forward to seeing their driver race double duty. However, Bowman will not compete in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. Bowman will only compete in the Cup Series race.

In place of Bowman, Kyle Larson will suit up for JR Motorsports in the No. 88 car. That's bad news for the field who always have to step up their game to the max when Larson is in the race.

This season has been challenging for Alex Bowman. He was diagnosed with vertigo and had to miss several weeks of racing. Bowman, an advocate for pet adoption, announced his own dog, Finn, has cancer.

There is no reason given for Bowman being replaced by Larson, but it is clearly a challenging time for the NASCAR community, and Bowman personally. Hopefully, the 48 team can put together a great run at Nashville and have something positive to focus on.

Since the 2022 season, Alex Bowman has missed multiple races in three of five seasons. In 2022, he missed five races due to concussion symptoms following a hard crash. In 2023, Bowman got into a sprint car accident that left him with a back injury that resulted in him missing three races. 2024 and 2025 went by without any missed races. Then the vertigo at COTA earlier this year resulted in him missed four races.

It's been tough for Bowman. There could be a tough decision or two ahead for Bowman and Hendrick Motorsports. Right now, the focus is on running well on Sunday.

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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 6:30 PM.