Hendrick Motorsports makes decision on appeal of Alex Bowman Roval disqualification

Hendrick Motorsports has made their decision regarding a potential appeal of the disqualification of Alex Bowman and the No. 48 team from Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 due to the post-race weight of his car.

The team announced on Monday that they’ve decided against appealing the decision from NASCAR, which led to Bowman going from solidifying his spot in the Round of 8, to being left on the outside looking in, while the rest of his teammates compete for a championship.

Hendrick won’t appeal the Bowman disqualification. They said they didn’t give themselves enough of a margin to meet the postrace standards (no explanation on how the car lost the weight). Team statement: pic.twitter.com/pPtbeKVloZ

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 14, 2024

Some believed the organization had a case, as dashcam footage from another driver showed what appeared to be a significant piece dislodging from Bowman’s car over a bump in the course.

It’s possible that piece was enough to cause the weight discrepancy that got Alex Bowman disqualified from the race, which caused him to therefore fall out of the top eight of the playoff standings on points. Evidently, Hendrick didn’t believe it would make a difference going through an appeal process though.

Regardless, NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran explained why the move was made, and what led to the disqualification of the No. 48 car to add some more context on the situation.

“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. We let them fuel it again, we let them 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.”

With the added headache for Alex Bowman, Joey Logano will be the benefactor in the Round of 8. The two-time Cup Series champion finished P9 in the Round of 12, one spot below the cut-line, but Bowman’s disqualification will officially send him to the next round.