Alex Bowman will miss his scheduled NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend, and Kyle Larson will take over driving duties in JR Motorsports’ No. 88. NASCAR’s official entry list for Saturday’s race shows Larson in the car, while Bowman remains listed for Sunday’s Cup Series race.
The change comes after Bowman already missed his first planned start at Darlington Raceway following a vertigo diagnosis. He was set to drive the No. 88 in two races this season, but Nashville will now be his second missed appearance, leaving the team to turn again to Larson for the substitute role.
JR Motorsports has split the No. 88 among five drivers during the 2026 season, including the four Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series drivers and Rajah Caruth. Bowman’s planned two-race agreement was one piece of that rotation, but his absence means the car will have another new lineup at Nashville.
Larson has already been one of the most effective fill-ins in the series this year. He is two for four in NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts in 2026, won in two of his three planned starts and finished fourth when he substituted for Bowman at Darlington.
Bowman’s missed races have left him 33rd in points and 156 points outside the current cutoff spot for the 2026 Chase for the Cup. He has now missed four races because of vertigo, a stretch that has pushed him deep into the standings even as he stays on the Cup Series entry list for Sunday.
That last detail is the one that matters most for Bowman and Hendrick Motorsports. He is out of the No. 88 again this weekend, but his presence on the Cup Series entry list suggests the team is still counting on him to race Sunday, even as his injury history continues to shadow the season.
For now, Nashville becomes another race where Bowman watches from the sidelines and Larson climbs into the seat. The bigger question is whether Bowman can turn the Sunday start into a return to stability after four missed races have already altered the shape of his year.
