“They should have had a same plan”: 8-time Cup Series champion crew chief addresses Alex Bowman’s annihilation by NASCAR

NASCAR driver Alex Bowman failed to meet the weight requirements in a post-race inspection at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which cost him his seat in the round of 8. NASCAR legend Richard Petty's crew chief recently expressed his views on this situation.

Alex Bowman pilots the #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, competing full-time in the Cup Series. In a career spanning 10 years, Bowman has secured 9 race wins across NASCAR's top divisions. The Arizona native had started the Bank of America ROVAL 400 in P17 and eventually secured a P18 finish, which kept him above Team Penske's Joey Logano who finished ten positions ahead of him, in P8.

However, NASCAR deemed Bowman's #48 Chevy lighter than the minimum weight requirement. In a recent post on the Petty Family Racing YouTube channel, run by 7-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty, a fan inquired about how a car can be good in the pre-race weight check but fail the post-race inspection. Petty and his former crew chief Dale Inman responded to the query (via X).

"That's a good question. That's what they're checking on. They give them all the benefit of the doubt. They let them, you know, gas it up and done everything they could, probably even their drinking bottle and probably let them fill it up. But they took it back to the NASCAR headquarters. And it's going to be interesting just how did they get the weight out of the car between going through inspection and finishing the race." Richard Petty said

On being asked how Dale Inman did it during his stint as a champion's crew chief, he said:

"We never cheated. I'm not sure they're cheated. I don't know what happened, but if they had a plan to get through the first inspection, they should have had the same plan to beat the second inspection. So I don't know. I'm just a big question mark right now for sure. Yeah, and I don't. But I'm pretty sure I know how it's going to turn out."

As things currently stand, Alex Bowman, one of the most impressive drivers in the playoffs, is the only HMS driver who did not make it to the Round of 8 in the 2024 Cup Series playoffs. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and William Byron will continue their title chase at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 20th.

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Alex Bowman opens up after getting disqualified from the 2024 championship fight

Alex Bowman's #48 Ally Chevrolet has been nothing short of excellent during the 2024 playoffs. Bowman, who was rumored to be out of HMS before the playoffs started, secured good results consistently and was all set to compete in the Round of 8. However, lady luck was not on his side.

Reflecting on the decision by NASCAR to disqualify him, Alex Bowman recalled a few instances from the race that might have caused his car to not meet the required weight.

"I didn't crash. That's the hardest I've ever hit anything in my life. Just a hard thing...these things have big roadblocks underneath them."

"Just how I was following, I think the 1 (Ross Chastain), I just couldn't see. I thought I was okay. Clearly, I was too far on the left. My mistake caused that for sure," he added.