Why did NASCAR eliminate Alex Bowman despite qualifying for the playoffs? All you need to know

Alex Bowman missed the opportunity to join his Hendrick Motorsports teammates for the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week. Despite winning Stage 2 and bagging enough points to advance further in his playoff journey, the No. 48 driver was disqualified from the championship courtesy of NASCAR.

As per reports, Bowman's Chevrolet failed to make the minimum weight for a NASCAR Cup Series entry. On the other hand, Kyle Larson won his sixth race of the season and got his team their 312th win. Needless to say, it was a bittersweet day for Hendrick Motorsports.

Due to the violation, Bowman dropped 28 points in the Cup Series standings. This gave Team Penske's Joey Logano the eighth and final spot in the playoffs. The Hendrick Motorsports icon was relegated from 6th to 9th on points.

Brad Morgan, the managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series addressed the situation and spoke about the decision taken by the organization (via journalist Joseph Srigley):

"We gave them every opportunity to make minimum weight. We ran them back through. Unfortunately, they were light again. They are allowed a 0.5% weight break, which is for usage of fluids and so on. That’s about 17 pounds.

Morgan further added:

"Took it off the scales, put it back on and it was the same weight, so the car had a weight issue. All the other cars cleared inspection, the No. 48 didn’t, and that ends in a DQ,"

In an official statement, Hendrick Motorsports said that the No. 48 team will decide Monday whether they want to appeal to NASCAR to revoke Alex Bowman's disqualification.

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Alex Bowman owned up to his "mistake" at the Charlotte ROVAL

Earlier in the race, Alex Bowman took a hard hit while getting launched off the curb. He was tailing Ross Chastain's No. 1 Chevy at the time. There is a possibility that Bowman's car could have lost a piece of its body as a result of the impact, which ultimately resulted in his car not making the weight cap.

"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," Alex Bowman told reporter Toby Christie. "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."

Alex Bowman finished 18th in Sunday's race at the 2.28-mile road course. The 31-year-old won one race this year back in July, which was also on a road course (Chicago).

The Tucson, Arizona native is currently on a 12-race winless streak. His next race is on October 20th. Fans can watch Bowman in action from 2 PM ET onwards on NBC or listen to live radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.