Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal Alex Bowman NASCAR disqualification

Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal its disqualification from Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for Alex Bowman and the No. 48 car and the matter is considered complete.

Bowman was disqualified for a failure to meet minimum weight after the race. He had advanced into the Round of 8 by virtue of an 18th place finish and stage win in Concord, North Carolina.

Bowman lost all the stage points he had earned and credited with a 38th place finish, earning just one point as a result. He had finished of sixth and 16th at Kansas and Talladega and was one of the better drivers over the course of the playoffs.

But it was negated due to the infraction and Joey Logano earned the spot forfeited by Bowman as a result.

“Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the disqualification of the No. 48 car following Sunday’s race at the Charlotte ROVAL,” the team statement read. “NASCAR allows a clear margin to account for the difference in pre- and post-race weight. After a thorough review by our team and the sanctioning body, we simply did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement. Although unintentional, the infraction was avoidable. We are extremely disappointed to lose a Playoff spot under these circumstances and apologize to our fans and partners.”

On Sunday, NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran said every effort was made to allow the No. 48 to meet minimum weight.

“We … gave them the opportunity to fuel the car as well as purge the water system and add water. So we gave them every opportunity to make minimum weight. We ran them back through. Unfortunately, they were light again. They are allowed a 0.5% weight break, which is for usage of fluids and so on. That’s about 17 pounds. We backed the car back off the scales, ran it back on and then, unfortunately, it was the same weight. So the car had a weight issue. All the other cars cleared inspection. The 48 didn’t, and that ends up in a disqualification.”

The most likely explanation for the lost weight, with NASCAR’s tolerance amounting to rough 17 lbs, was this incident in which Bowman caught air and appeared to drop something from the bottom of the car.

However, there are also penalties for teams failing to secure ballast, so Hendrick Motorsports very well could have faced a no-win scenario.

The Round of 8 contenders are now officially set in advance of the races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

More must-reads:

• NASCAR’s Round of 8 set by dramatic Roval green flag run; post-race disqualification
• Alex Bowman disqualified after Charlotte Roval, loses final NASCAR playoff
• Brad Keselowski says he would have strong appeal case if NASCAR penalized Talladega roof rails