The No. 48 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1 of Alex Bowman was disqualified after the most recent race at the Charlotte Roval on October 13th, 2024. Bowman’s race car was found to be too light in postrace inspection, and he was officially credited with a 38th-place finish, or dead last in the standings. As a result, Bowman was eliminated from the Playoffs and will not contend for the 2024 Cup Series title in the Round of 8. That ruling will stand, as his team, Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), has confirmed that it will not appeal the disqualification.
HMS vice chairman and former NASCAR Chevy driver himself, Jeff Gordon, explained the team’s decision in a conversation on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“We simply did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement,” Gordon said. “Although unintentional, the infraction was avoidable.”
There was some speculation that the weight discrepancy was the result of damage when the No. 48 NASCAR Chevy slammed down hard after hopping a curb during the race. In-car footage from a competitor appeared to show a piece of debris separating itself from Alex Bowman’s race car, but this was not confirmed.
“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 said. “So NASCAR was great through the whole process. You can’t really inspect much of it at the race track, so we weren’t really sure, but they took it over to the tech center, looked at it yesterday and thoroughly examined it and didn’t find anything.”
He added, “So quite honestly, it’s just one of those things where NASCAR has minimum pre-race, minimum post-race weights, and our teams in order to just make the best performing race cars every weekend for our drivers, we know that we’ve got to stay as close to those minimums as possible, and in this case, the 48 car, they just cut it too close and missed it, and so that’s on us.”
Alex Bowman’s disqualification means that he’s the only racer from the HMS stable that’s not still in the title fight. His teammates – Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and William Byron – will all continue to race for the 2024 championship in the Round of 8.
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3 Chevys, 3 Toyotas, and 2 Fords remain in the Championship Title hunt. Got to pull for Hendrick Motorsports, since the only three Chevys are part of his race team stable. Pulling for Kyle Larson to get it done! The #5 team has really shined this year, showcasing his talent, in spite of missing the Charlotte 600 to race at Indy. #teamchevy
As the great Richard Petty once stated “It’s not that everyone else is getting better or faster, we’re just getting behind on our cheatin’”…or words to that effect.