Anthony Alfredo to Sub for Vertigo-Plagued Alex Bowman at Phoenix
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Anthony Alfredo said he isn’t nervous about his sudden assignment to substitute for NASCAR star Alex Bowman at this Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Bowman experienced a case of vertigo last weekend during the NASCAR Cup Series event at Circuit of the Americas and drove to the garage in the 71st of 95 laps. Relief driver Myatt Snider, a FOX Sports production assistant who has most recently competed on a part-time basis in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and was making his first competitive experience in a Cup Series event—completed the race for Bowman and brought Hendrick Motorsports a 36th-place finish.
Alfredo, 26, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, said Friday afternoon, a day before qualifying, “I feel prepared, feel comfortable in the car. Everything's how I would like it. I know where everything is that I need to use, as far as being able to operate it and drive properly. So that's got me in a better head space today than, say, earlier in the week. I'm not worried about any of that.”
Much of his comfort level stems from the fact he is a NASCAR Next alumnus who has competed in 210 total races across the three NASCAR touring series, with 43 starts in the Cup Series. Moreover, he’s a simulator driver for Hendrick Motorsports, testing set-ups in simulation to help each of Hendrick’s teams create real-time ones.
Anthony Alfredo.Sean Gardner - Getty Images“I sit in a dark room with no windows all day during the week,” Alfredo said, “but I choose to do it, because I enjoy it and I like seeing them get better. And I’ve always hoped that one day it could lead to something, maybe not like this, but just help my career get further along. So now I have that opportunity and I don’t want to take it for granted.”
He said it’s “just weird, right? I don’t want to see anyone in the position Alex is in, so it’s hard for me to be excited. That makes it certainly disappointing. A lot of people are asking me how excited I am, and I’m not excited that I have to fill in for someone who’s not able to be in their own car this weekend. But it is of course a huge opportunity for me to go out there and do a good job and maybe turn some heads. But I don’t even feel like I have to prove anything to anybody. I don’t think they would've picked me if they didn’t think I could do it right. So it’s not about that. I think it’s more going out there and just doing what’s asking me and doing a good job behind the wheel filling in.”
Alfredo insisted that this “isn’t an audition,” rather calling it “a one-race operation.”
Hendrick Motorsports President Jeff Andrews said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s On Track program that Bowman has “undergone several rounds of testing to pinpoint exactly what it is. So, the good news is it’s absolutely nothing concussion-related, anything like that, that should have a long-term effect. We’re supporting him as he goes down the right path and sees the right people to get himself better. That’s certainly our first priority, the health and safety of Alex Bowman, not only in one of our race cars but his personal health as a whole. We’ll support him however long this takes, and that seat will be ready for him when he’s ready to get back in that car.”
As for Bowman, Andrews said what happened at COTA was “very odd,” that it came without any “indication prior to the race. Several of us talked to Alex for quite a while, not only through the weekend but then again on Sunday. So, at some point during the race, this started to set in with him and became progressively worse.
“I want to say one thing about Alex Bowman,” Andrews said. “We have watched him struggle his way through and fight his way through some race weekends when he was not feeling well and in a lot of pain, and this certainly was another level beyond that, in terms of when it starts to affect your equilibrium and nausea that goes with that. I think he was willing to fight through that, but when it starts to affect your vision, that’s when the team said it was time to get out of the car, which absolutely killed him and crushed him.”
Alex Bowman.James Gilbert - Getty ImagesBowman has had past health issues, but Andrews said this bout with vertigo “really has kind of come from out of nowhere, so to speak. Alex has been seen and treated for some back and neck pain in the past, like I think most of these guys and ladies that strap into these stock cars and cinch those belts do after a fairly long career. But nothing out of the ordinary. Our staff hadn’t been treating him any differently from another driver or athlete.” He said, “[I] don’t really have answers right now, because it is so early on. I do know that he’s working super-hard to get through this. He’s got a great team of specialists that are looking into this and looking after him.”