Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to 'CONFUSING' Hendrick Motorsports appeal decision

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has reacted to Hendrick Motorsports' decision not to appeal Alex Bowman’s disqualification from the Bank of America 400 labelling it as ‘confusing’.

The 31-year-old was set to progress into the final eight of the playoffs, however he was subjected to post race inspection at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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Bowman’s #48 was found to be underweight and was promptly disqualified from the race, crucially losing his spot in the next round of the playoffs.

His disqualification allowed Joey Logano to progress into the next round, which begins at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend.

Why didn't Hendrick Motorsports appeal Alex Bowman’s disqualification?

Following the race his team, Hendrick Motorsports, revealed they were contemplating whether to appeal the decision, with them eventually deciding not to launch an appeal.

Speaking on his podcast Dale Jr Download, Earnhardt reacted to the team’s decision, revealing the team’s confusion as to why the car was underweight.

“With everything on the line, this is Alex’s championship hopes. They rest on the idea that they can somehow appeal this, and they didn’t even try to appeal it,” Earnhardt said.

“I called around a little bit yesterday looking for some information. I was told that there was no understanding as to how the car was light, what might have come off of it.

“The team at one point yesterday was still as confused as the rest of us. That was a bit surprising because the teams are good enough, all the guys and the technical crew chief, engineers, if the car is light, they can probably look at the car and spend 20 minutes in the garage and go, ‘Yup, there it is. There’s the problem.’

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“And still hours later, they were like dumbfounded or just still unsure as to how this could happen.

“I’m going to assume that there’s nothing significant of weight that came off of the car.

“The car was beyond the tolerance that NASCAR allowed, and even if it’s half a pound, it’s beyond the tolerance.

“If they can’t argue that there was some parts and pieces that would make up for that weight loss, then there’s no way to win the appeal.

“Hendrick must look at it and go, ‘There’s no way we can win this. This is an obvious mistake.'”

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