Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon says that the organization didn’t see anything they were comfortable enough to build an appeal around for Alex Bowman and the No. 48 team.
Bowman was disqualified from Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval because his Chevrolet was too light in post-race inspection. There have been no details from NASCAR or Hendrick Motorsports regarding how far out of tolerance the car was, or what caused it to be too light. After crossing the finish line 18th, Bowman was moved to last place in the finishing order and credited with one point for the event.
But the most significant penalty was Bowman being eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Bowman fell behind Joey Logano on points after the penalty, which moved the Team Penske driver back into the Round of 8.
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“When we looked at all the factors and you saw early on in that race the 48 car launched up into the air and got into the wall, and you just look at this race in general and the amount of contact, we wanted to really inspect the car fully to see was there enough damage or was there something that got dislodged from the car,” Gordon told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“NASCAR was great through the whole process; you can’t really inspect much of it at the racetrack, so we weren’t really sure, but they took it over to the tech center and looked at it yesterday and thoroughly examined it and didn’t find anything.”
Bowman ran over the curbing at the exit of the frontstretch chicane, launched into the air, and landed in the tri-oval. The momentum of the incident took Bowman to the outside wall, which he hit with the right side of his Chevrolet.
“Quite honestly, it’s just one of those things where NASCAR has minimum pre-race and minimum post-race weights and our teams, in order to just make the best performing race cars every week for our drivers, we know that we’ve got to stay as close to those minimums as possible,” Gordon continued. “In this case, the No.48 car, they just cut it too close and missed it.
“So that’s on us, and pretty embarrassed by it and very disappointing after what was looking like a historical day and one of the most exciting days that we’ve had the racetrack, and it being a home race and everything, and celebrating in victory and all four (advancing) and that all got wiped away.
“We looked at all the facts and we didn’t feel there was anything that we felt comfortable appealing and we’re going to move on.”
Bowman is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver who is no longer championship-eligible. Until inspection was complete, Hendrick Motorsports accounted for half of the eight drivers advancing into the third round of the postseason, with teammate Kyle Larson having won Sunday’s race.
“We were celebrating until about 6 p.m. Sunday,” Gordon said. “It was probably one of the greatest days in the 40-year history of Hendrick Motorsports with the win by the No.5, a home race, and what we thought was getting all four cars getting through to the next round and making history.
“But obviously pretty disappointed to hear the news that we failed on the weights on the post-race inspection. It’s pretty devastating with all the hard work and effort that’s put in. Really disappointed that that happened.”
Gordon admitted one of the biggest reasons it’s tough to swallow is because of the performance of Bowman and his team. Bowman, prior to the disqualification, had earned the most points of all playoff drivers. His average finish in six playoffs races (before the disqualification) was 12th.