As the Bank of America Roval race concluded and the playoff field whittled down to eight drivers, Hendrick Motorsports had every reason to be delighted. Kyle Larson came out on top and their other three drivers made it to the next round. But there was bad news for Alex Bowman. A post-race inspection found the  No. 48 Chevrolet underweight leading to its disqualification and Bowman’s exit from the Cup Series. But there was a twist to come.

This was a heartbreaking end to Bowman’s campaign, where he had amassed the highest stage points in every playoff race. Dashcam footage of Michael McDowell’s No. 34 Ford revealed what appeared to be an object coming loose from Bowman’s car and flying away. This raised hope for the driver and his fans, in case HMS decided to appeal the ruling. However, oddly enough, despite their success in such cases, the team decided against appealing the penalty. While this decision may surprise a few people, Brad Keselowski’s spotter provided a reason behind the rationale.

Alex Bowman’s team knows best

Granted, that decision came as a surprise to many. Rick Hendrick had previously faced NASCAR’s wrath when Kyle Larson attempted the Double. After a four-hour delay at the Indy 500, Kyle Larson flew back to Charlotte – but could not start the Coca-Cola 600. HMS appealed for a waiver to attain Larson’s playoff eligibility, and soon enough got it.

Last year as well, NASCAR hit Hendrick teams with $100,000 fines each for modified hood louvers at the Spring Phoenix’s pre-race inspections. Moreover, crew chiefs Cliff Daniels, Alan Gustafson, Rudy Fugle, and Blake Harris received 4 race suspensions and each team lost 100 points and 10 playoff points. However, HMS had another successful appeal as the National Motorsports Appeals Panel overturned the ruling, removing the points penalty entirely. Hence, it was expected that Bowman may get a similar reprieve, with the dash-cam video being a key piece of evidence apparently.

But that wasn’t the case and Freddie Kraft mentioned that HMS officials might have downplayed its viability. In a ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’ episode on Monday, Kraft said, “A lot of people saw that video of Bowman jumping the curb and something flying off…if that was the case, you would have seen a fight from the Hendrick people.” The No. 48 Chevy was overweight by 17 pounds. As per Brad Moran, the managing series director for Cup, the car was weighed multiple times, and the team was given the chance to both fuel up the car and add water.

Brad Keselowski’s spotter, TJ Majors, argued that the HMS team must have found it difficult to argue the case and hence didn’t appeal. Such a brilliant team with 14 championships in its name would not let go of its driver’s playoff bid so easily.

“Some of the smartest people in the sport work there. And they know what they’re doing. If they knew enough to not appeal…if it was even close, they would have tried. But obviously, in their eyes, it wasn’t worth the time and effort to do that. They came out and said it was a mistake on their part. They miscalculated some things, and it was just an error, so it happens,” TJ Majors said. Interestingly, Keselowski has empathy for Bowman having experienced something similar after the 2022 Martinsville Speedway race.

Speaking to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, he said, “I have empathy for sure for the 48 team. I hate to see a team get knocked out of playoffs that way. And 2022 we had the same penalty at Martinsville and we tracked it all down to… we had ran a 400 lap race at Martinsville and we had worn such and such weight off the car and accumulated X amount of rubber and we were plenty good.”

“And in the fall race we wore more brake pad and brake rotor off the car. And at the end of the race we got hit in the back and the rubber that naturally adds weight to the car didn’t accumulate. And the combination of the two put us below the weight threshold and it certainly didn’t feel egregious to me,” he added. Meanwhile, Bowman’s HMS teammate Kyle Larson also sounded gutted over how the season ended for him.

“I feel terrible for Alex. It’s really got nothing to do with him. He did everything possible. He’s done a great job throughout the playoffs. Definitely the most improved, I feel like, out of any driver in the playoffs, or any driver in the series, over these first-six races or whatever it’s been,” Larson said during the October 19 presser at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As Alex Bowman nurses his DQ wounds, his replacement, Joey Logano, is on Cloud 9 at present.

Bowman falls, Logano rises

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Alex Bowman made way for Joey Logano, a Cup Series driver who drummed up little expectations about even making it into the playoffs. Before the postseason, he owned only 10 top-tens and 4 top-fives besides a lone Nashville victory – hardly the recipe for a championship contender. He was on his way out after the initial result at Charlotte Motorspeedway, but Bowman’s disqualification meant he got a reprieve and he has made the most of it.

Joey Logano pulled off a dramatic win at Las Vegas, locking himself into the Championship 4 race. Even as people are flabbergasted by Logano’s vast turn of fortunes, Brad Keselowski’s spotter shaved off any doubt about Joey Logano’s teamwork.

T.J. Majors compared Joey Logano with Chase Elliott – if the latter had been in Logano’s place, people would have cheered more. “I know we’re not happy because he’s done it like this. But he’s got three wins at the right times. How do you fault him for it? If this was Chase Elliott, everyone would be like, ‘Oh, that’s great. These guys are awesome. They did the right thing.’ I mean, what’s the difference?”

Even Denny Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, heaped praise on the 22 team. “I knew the minute they got in [to the Round of 8] Sunday night post-Charlotte, I wrote them into the final four first. Write it down. Joey Logano is going to find a way. It’s that simple. It’s a team sport, so I don’t want to single Joey out. I think it’s a testament to how they do business.”

Evidently, Joey Logano is living off quite well of Alex Bowman’s misfortune. As the playoffs draw to the last chapter, let us see if Team Penske has more surprises in the bag for us.