Hendrick Motorsports issues statement regarding appeal of Alex Bowman disqualification

Hendrick Motorsports announced Monday it will not appeal the disqualification of Alex Bowman and the No. 48 team from Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte after the car failed post-race inspection for being underweight.

As a result of the disqualification, Bowman was eliminated from the Cup Series playoffs with just four races remaining. In its statement, Hendrick called the infraction “unintentional,” however, “avoidable.”

“Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the disqualification of the No. 48 car following Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval,” Hendrick said in a statement, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “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.”

Bowman initially finished P18 at Charlotte, enough to send him through to the next round. Joey Logano took the final transfer spot heading into the Round of 8 after Bowman’s disqualification. Brad Moran, Cup Series managing director, said after Sunday’s race that Bowman’s car did not meet the minimum weight requirement after going through post-race inspection.

NASCAR’s Brad Moran explains Alex Bowman disqualification at Charlotte Roval

The NASCAR Rule Book states: “After a vehicle has raced, the minimum overall vehicle weight of all vehicles must be within 0.5% of the minimum overall vehicle weight required at the start of the Race.”

Moran said the 48 team was given the opportunity to fuel the car, purge the water system and add water. NASCAR re-scaled the car multiple times, and it never met the minimum weight.

“Unfortunately, when we were running the No. 48 through, it didn’t pass the minimum weight specs,” Moran said. “We pulled the car off to the side and we allowed them to fuel it which they already did. Let them fuel it again, let them run the pumps to make sure all the pickup boxes were full. We give the teams every opportunity to try to meet minimum weight. We also have them plug in the water. And run the water through the system to make sure they’re full of water. And then we re-scale it. Still didn’t meet the weight.

“We backed it off and we ran it across one more time just to confirm the weights were accurate. Unfortunately, they did not meet the minimum weight. They are allowed half of a percent of a weight break which is about 17 pounds, give or take. That is what they’re allowed, and it was more than that.”