The Charlotte ROVAL spun quite the coin-flip tale for Rick Hendrick. On one hand, Kyle Larson became the first person to win a season-high six Cup races in the Next-Gen car. On the other, NASCAR disqualified Alex Bowman after his car failed to make weight post-race, effectively knocking the #48 team’s championship dreams out of the Playoff picture for good.

With that, Hendrick Motorsports will not take all four Hendrick machines to the championship 4 in Phoenix. It’s a tough blow for Alex Bowman, who gave it his all on Sunday to secure that final transfer spot over Joey Logano. However, fate, or perhaps an unsecured ballast, had other plans for the disgruntled championship hope. Now, recent bearings suggest that his organization does not wish to post an appeal for what many, including themselves, have called an “unintentional” mistake. Hence, some furious fans suggest there might be grounds to believe that NASCAR’s allegations against Hendrick Motorsports point toward a potential controversy.

Rick Hendrick’s team might’ve dropped something heavy at Charlotte

Thanks to his Stage 2 win and an 18th-place finish, Alex Bowman earned 29 points at the ROVAL… until he didn’t. A few hours after Kyle Larson’s victory celebrations had simmered down, Managing Director of the Cup Series, Brad Moran, revealed that Bowman’s 3400-odd pound Chevrolet Camaro Zl1 did not “pass the minimum weight specs.”

In a video released through NASCAR socials, he explained, “So, we pulled the car off to the side, and we allowed them to fuel it, which they already did. We let them fuel it again, or we let them run the pumps to make sure all pickup boxes were full… We also have them plug in the water and run the water through the system to make sure they’re full of water, and we re-scale it. It still didn’t meet the weight.” According to Moran, Cup cars have a 0.5% “weight break” for potential discrepancies, which equals roughly 17 pounds of their stipulated weight. Unfortunately, the #48 could not meet that grace limit to multiple tries.

Meanwhile, some convincing video footage surfaced online from Michael McDowell’s #34 car when the #48 caught air off the curb ahead of him on turn 17. Those who’ve seen the video have many theories about what fell from Bowman’s car’s underbody on the hard landing. But without confirmation, the best way to describe it would be a “heavy object.” Regardless of this ‘evidence’, Hendrick Motorsports posted a public statement declaring they would not appeal against Alex Bowman’s penalty.

In a Twitter update, The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, announced, “Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the disqualification of the No. 48 car following Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval. NASCAR allows a clear margin to account for the difference in pre-and post-race weight. After a thorough review by our team and the sanctioning body, we simply did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement. We are extremely disappointed to lose a playoff spot under these circumstances and apologize to our fans and partners.”

That officially makes Bowman’s misfortunes permanent. In a flash, the guy lost his 18th-place finish; his 29 points, and his playoff berth. But the question that’s been bothering diehard #48 fans is: why aren’t Hendrick Motorsports fighting for their driver’s rightful place in the Playoffs when it could all come down to something as simple as a faulty ballast?

Well, the broader discussions have unfurled an interesting development.

Rulebook revelation opens up a loophole for HMS’ appeal

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Hendrick Motorsports is arguably the biggest team in NASCAR, with a close consideration for, maybe, Joe Gibbs Racing. Still, Coach Gibbs only has 5 Cup championships compared to the stacked 14-time trophy cabinet of Rick Hendrick’s race team. This year HMS is celebrating its 40th anniversary, which is again, another testament to their incredible tenure in the world’s premier stock car racing competition. A reign that long is bound to draw more than a few conspiracies, accompanied by their respective “theorists.” The Alex Bowman incident was no different.

When Jeff Gluck’s post started gathering traction on Twitter, some fans openly assumed the Hendrick Motorsports reaction. “We were doing stuff we weren’t supposed to be doing so instead of getting caught doing more stuff we’re not supposed to be doing, we finna take the L,” commented one member of the NASCAR community outlining one example of their presumed Hendrick Motorsports perspective.

Another wrote, “Translation: “NASCAR caught the 48 team jettisoning weight during the race. Our bad.” The reception to Rick Hendrick’s organization falling back so easily was not too warm, and this Twitter user emphasized the sentiments best when they simply replied, “So they were cheating.”

Others joked, “At least we dont have to worry about a Round of 9 now,” while one hardcore Alex Bowman fan wrote, “this is embarrassing and disappointing on so many levels.” And understandably so. However, a certain demographic of the debaters had quite an interesting theory: “I feel like they know it was unsecured ballast or something of the sort and don’t want a bigger penalty.” On deeper oversight, they might not be wrong.

A ballast is a weight-adding part made from Lead or Tungsten that makes a car heavier when it might be underweight. It is very possible that what fell from the #48 early in the race was a ballast. And in that case, Toby Christie points out that, “per the NASCAR Rulebook, the penalty for the separation of ballast from a car in the Cup Series is a four-race suspension of the Crew Chief, Car Chief, and Head Engineer. No points penalty. If the 48 can prove that’s what happened, that may be a path.”

So, is that why Hendrick Motorsports is not appealing to overturn Alex Bowman’s penalty? Let us know your thoughts below.