Alex Bowman thought he had the ball rolling in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but less than three hours into the Bank of America Roval 400, Bowman and his No. 400 came out. 48 Bad news for the Hendrick Motorsports team: it was disqualified. To make matters worse, his disqualification prevented Bowman from advancing to the eighth round of the playoffs as the qualifiers took place on Sunday, reducing the number of playoff participants from 12 to 8. Bowman’s car failed race inspection and officials determined that the No. 48 did not meet the weight requirements. This disqualification resulted in an automatic disqualification, placing him last at the finish line. “Unfortunately, when I inspected car no. 48, it didn’t meet our minimum weight requirements,” NASCAR Cup Series executive director Brad Moran explained Sunday night.“We give teams every opportunity to strive for minimum weight… It is acceptable to lose 0.5% of your body weight (about 17 kilograms, plus or minus). And it was much more than that.”
Baumann initially placed 18th on Sunday, but that result and the win in Stage 2 were enough to give him the points he needed to advance to the third round of the playoffs. It was also enough to knock two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano out of the playoffs. But Bowman’s bad luck came as a relief for the Team Penske driver as Logano, who won the title in 2018 and 2022, entered the top eight on Sunday after Bowman’s points were wiped out. Hendrick had 24 hours to decide whether to appeal, but the team said in a statement Monday afternoon that it would not pursue that option.
“Hendrick Motorsport will not appeal the disqualification of the #48 car after Sunday’s race at Charlotte ROVAL. After a thorough investigation by our team and the sanctioning body, we did not have sufficient clearance to meet our post-race requirements. Although unintentional, the breach was avoidable. “It is very unfortunate that we had to forfeit the playoffs under these circumstances, and we also apologize to our fans and partners.”
Logano now joins Penske teammate and reigning champion Ryan Blaney in Round 8, two Hendrick Motorsports champions. 2021 champion Kyle Larson, winner of Sunday’s race; 2020 Champion Chase Elliott. Hendrick will also have a third title contender in Round 8 in William Byron, while Joe Gibbs Racing has two drivers advancing to Round 3 in Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell. 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick advanced to the third round after Hamlin’s team won the 2024 regular season title with Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. The playoff field will be reduced from eight to four drivers after races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway. The final four drivers will compete for the championship on November 10 at Phoenix Raceway.
