Alex Bowman’s hopes for advancing within the NASCAR Playoffs have been dashed following the disqualification of his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the Charlotte Roval earlier this month. The car failed to fulfill the minimal weight requirement throughout a post-race inspection, resulting in the elimination of Bowman from the playoffs.
This disqualification paved the best way for Joey Logano, a two-time Cup Sequence champion, to maneuver ahead into the Spherical of 8. Now, Brad Keselowski has commented on the state of affairs after an analogous factor occurred to him.
The Charlotte Roval, identified for its difficult mixture of oval and infield street course, hosted the race the place Bowman’s disqualification passed off. Automobiles should weigh a minimal of three,400 kilos with driver and gasoline, with a spread as much as 3,500 kilos relying on the driving force’s weight. There’s a post-race tolerance of 0.5 % (about 17 kilos) to account for pure weight reduction through the race.
Regardless of efforts to regulate Bowman’s automotive, which included including gasoline, the car didn’t meet the required weight requirements, leading to his unlucky playoff exit.
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Hendrick Motorsports, one of the vital profitable and storied groups in NASCAR historical past, with drivers like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson amongst their ranks, opted to not enchantment the choice. Acknowledging the failure to uphold the mandatory weight margin settled the disqualification. This was an enormous disappointment for the staff which had anticipated full illustration within the playoffs’ subsequent spherical with all its drivers pushing via.
Keselowski was sympathetic to Bowman as he mirrored on an analogous incident of his personal in 2022 at Martinsville Speedway with Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports activities.
“I’ve empathy for positive for the 48 staff. I hate to see a staff get knocked out of playoffs that means,” Keselowski mentioned.
“And 2022 we had the identical penalty at Martinsville and we tracked all of it right down to… we had ran a 400 lap race at Martinsville and we had worn such and such weight off the automotive and accrued X quantity of rubber and we have been a lot good.
“And within the fall race we wore extra brake pad and brake rotor off the automotive. And on the finish of the race we bought hit within the again and the rubber that naturally provides weight to the automotive did not accumulate. And the mix of the 2 put us under the load threshold and it actually did not really feel egregious to me.
“And I in all probability carry that very same line of pondering, with out figuring out all the main points and the 48s form of endeavor there, however, uh, you realize, I actually have empathy.”
The NASCAR Cup Sequence playoffs proceed with the South Level 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a vital marketing campaign as drivers compete for a spot within the Championship 4.
