Hendrick Motorsports Accepts Penalty, Won’t Appeal Bowman’s Roval Disqualification

Hendrick Motorsports has elected not to appeal the No. 48 Chevrolet team’s disqualification penalty from last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, the team announced Monday.

The No. 48 Chevy was disqualified in technical inspection after Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400, the final race in the Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12. Competition officials determined that the car did not meet the minimum weight requirement, and No. 48 driver Alex Bowman was dropped from an 18th-place result to a last-place finish in the 38-car field.

A statement provided by the team said:

“Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the disqualification of the No. 48 car following Sunday’s race at the Charlotte ROVAL. 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.”

That demotion in the finishing order kept Bowman from advancing to the next round of the Cup Series Playoffs. His original finish plus an apparent Stage 2 victory were initially enough to clear Bowman’s path into the Round of 8 by a nine-point margin. The revised results left Bowman 20 points shy of advancing, and Joey Logano was the beneficiary with his move back above the elimination line into the championship-eligible field.

Brad Moran, managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series, said the No. 48 team was provided with multiple attempts to clear post-race inspection: “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 Cup Series is set to open the postseason’s Round of 8 in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson, winner of Sunday’s Charlotte Roval event, has won the last two events at the 1.5-mile Nevada track and will join Hendrick teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott in the next round.