CONCORD, N.C. — The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was disqualified following post-race inspection at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, officials announced Sunday.
Alex Bowman wheeled the car to an 18th-place finish in Sunday‘s NASCAR Cup Series race, the final race of the Round of 8 and provisionally advanced by nine points. However, the vehicle was determined to be too light in post-race technical inspection, disqualifying the result and dropping Bowman to a 38th-place finish instead.
“Unfortunately, the 48 had an issue (and) did not meet minimum weight,” said Brad Moran, managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series. “We put the car to the side. We continued on. 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.
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“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.”
Moran declined to elaborate on how light the No. 48 Chevrolet was during inspection, in case Hendrick Motorsports chooses to appeal the penalty.
“If the appeal happens, it’ll be expedited, so it’ll probably happen in the next couple of days,” Moran said. “So really can’t get into all the details of the information, but the car was light, and that’s where we ended up.”
The vehicle will be taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, until the conclusion of the appeals process if Hendrick appeals.
“We are working to understand the issue and will make a decision Monday about whether to submit an appeal,” the team posted on social media Sunday evening.
As a result, Joey Logano becomes the final driver to advance to the Round of 8. Bowman joins Austin Cindric, Daniel Suárez and Chase Briscoe as the drivers eliminated from playoff contention.
Bowman won his way into the postseason with a July victory at the Chicago Street Course.
The Round of 8 begins Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
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