Hendrick Motorsports has decided to eat the penalty and move on—no appeal for the No. 48 Chevrolet team’s disqualification from this past weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. The decision was announced on Monday, and it’s safe to say they’re not thrilled about it.
The drama unfolded after Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400, the last race in the Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12. During post race technical inspection, the No. 48 Chevy failed to make weight—literally. Competition officials found the car too light, and the result was brutal: Alex Bowman’s 18th-place finish turned into a last-place nosedive, dropping him to the bottom of the 38-car heap.
“Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the disqualification of the No. 48 car following Sunday’s race at the Charlotte ROVAL,” the team’s 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.”
And there you have it: Hendrick knows they messed up, but that doesn’t soften the blow. The DQ knocked Bowman out of the Cup Series Playoffs, slamming the door on his hopes of advancing to the next round. His original finish and a Stage 2 win had initially given him a nine-point cushion into the Round of 8. But after the adjustment? He fell 20 points short, and Joey Logano snuck through the back door to take the spot.
Brad Moran, managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series, laid it out plain and simple. “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.”
In other words, NASCAR bent over backwards to give the No. 48 a chance to make the cut, but the scales don’t lie. And just like that, Hendrick’s gamble didn’t pay off. Now, all eyes shift to Las Vegas for the South Point 400 as the Cup Series rolls into the Round of 8. Kyle Larson, the man who conquered the Charlotte ROVAL, heads into Sin City with the momentum, aiming for his third straight win at the 1.5-mile Nevada track. He’ll be joined by Hendrick teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott in the championship fight—but Bowman’s out of luck.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.