NASCAR fans got to see how good of a race car driver Alex Bowman is this season after his two-year struggle. The Hendrick Motorsports driver suffered an injury last year, forcing him to sit out several races. Recovering from that injury wasn’t easy, but he found his stride and created a strong mark in the playoffs. This was until the Round of 12 elimination race in Charlotte.
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The fandom heard his heartbreak on Sunday after he was disqualified for having an underweight car. Officials discovered the infraction during the post-race inspection and relegated him to a 38th-place finish. The result effectively ended his championship hopes that were just seeming to get brighter.
But this does not mean that there haven’t been any positives for him to take away from this season. Even if NASCAR doesn’t reverse its decision, the No. 48 team will now be confident that they have what it takes to challenge the best. Team owner Rick Hendrick sure is. The 75-year-old benefactor showered praised on Bowman in Charlotte ahead of the race.
He said, “I think Alex just having an opportunity to be healed up, feeling good. He and Blake (Harris, crew chief) are clicking. I think that’s been the secret there. I mean, I wish he hadn’t gotten hurt. I think we would be way ahead. Now they’re in a stride, and he’s doing a heck of a job. Every racetrack he’s doing a good job.”
How the day ended would have been disappointing for Hendrick, but it is unlikely that he will let things rest. Hendrick Motorsports is yet to appeal NASCAR’s decision. Should it not appeal, or should the disqualification stand after the appeal, both Bowman and Hendrick will equally feel the situation’s bitterness.
NASCAR official explains Bowman’s disqualification
Hendrick Motorsports issued a statement saying that they were going to assess the disqualification and make a decision about appealing on Monday. Teams usually appeal in such circumstances but NASCAR’s managing director Brad Moran said that they gave the team every chance to increase the weight of their car and that they still did not meet the requirements.
“We gave them every opportunity to make minimum weight,” he explained to NASCAR. “We ran them back through. Unfortunately, they were light again. They are allowed a 0.5% weight break, which is for the 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.”
These revelations cast the usefulness of an appeal into question. Either the team will acknowledge its fault or go ahead with the appeal, carrying low chances of success. It is rather unfortunate that drivers still encounter such rookie errors from their teams at the topmost level of stock car racing.
