By Luis Torres, Staff Writer
A day removed from Alex Bowman’s costly disqualification, Hendrick Motorsports announced they’ll not appeal NASCAR’s decision of penalizing the No. 48 team after the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway had concluded.
Therefore, the Round of 8 will go on without all four HMS entries continuing their fight for the NASCAR Cup Series championship. Instead, it’s down to Bowman’s teammate trio of Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Chase Elliott to bring a 15th championship to the organization.
This news was a result of Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet being found underweight and was stripped out of his 18th place finish that was good enough to make the Round of 8 over Joey Logano.
Hendrick Motorsports said in a statement that it was their wrongdoing of the No. 48 car failing the minimum weight requirements.
Consequently, the 14-time championship-winning organization felt such appeal wasn’t warranted.
“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.”
As of this publication, Bowman has not issued a statement regarding the title-ending disqualification.
With Hendrick not appealing, Bowman’s disqualification meant Logano advanced into the Round of 8, keeping his bid at a third Cup title alive.
Since the playoff elimination format was implemented in 2014, Logano has made the Championship 4 each even-numbered year. Logano’s bid for a sixth Championship 4 appearance begins Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the running of South Point 400.
In 23 starts, Logano has won three times, including the Fall 2022 race that punched his ticket into the Championship 4 and ultimately won the championship.
As for Bowman, he has one win to his name at LVMS which took place in Spring 2022.
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