NASCAR Takeaways: Alex Bowman eliminated from playoffs, Joey Logano earns Round of 8 spot

Bob the poker

Fox NASCAR Insider

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kyle Larson was unable to race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, missing a race that contributed to him falling short of the regular-season title.

His victory at the track on Sunday cemented him as the championship favorite.

Larson led 62 of the 109 laps for his sixth Cup win of 2024 when he won at the Charlotte road course, a combination of oval and an infield section of the facility.

Although Larsson's victory was not dramatic, other parts of the race — and the postrace inspection — were his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman was disqualified for failing to meet the postrace weight requirements of his car. Bowman's 38th-place finish did not advance him to the next round of the playoffs. The team can appeal the decision and the appeal will be heard this week.

With Bowman eliminated, Joey Logano moved into Round of 8 (NASCAR's version of a semifinal round) in the final advance spot.

William Byron entered the race as the only driver in the semifinal round, where he would be joined by Hendrick teammates Larson and Chase Elliott; Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing; Team Penske's Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano; and Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing.

Bowman, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe were eliminated from the playoffs.

Directions from Charlotte:

Bowman is ineligible

Bowman thought he had advanced with an 18th-place finish, but his car was too light at post-race weigh-in.

“We are working to understand the issue and will decide on Monday whether to file an appeal,” Hendrick Motorsports said in a statement.

NASCAR Cup Series rules require the car to be 3,400-3,500 pounds depending on the weight of the driver. The team gets 5 percent — about 17 pounds — of endurance after a race but Bowman hasn't weighed the car yet.

The team was allowed to refuel the vehicle and clean the water system and provide fresh water.

“We did it again [the scales] And unfortunately it was the same weight,” NASCAR Cup Series director Brad Moran said. “The car had a weight problem. … It ends in a disqualification.”

Due to potential appeals, Moran could not say how much the car weighed under specification.

Larson is the champ favorite

The quotes may have been cheesy but they were more important as Larsson now has twice as many wins as any other driver this season.

Larson: “The field knows we're strong. I think the field knows we can win at any track.”

Crew Chief Cliff Daniels: “[With] A very solid tribute to all the teams that are going to be in the Round of 8. Everyone has earned their way to get there. I think our No. 1 competitor is ourselves, and I think our team can execute if we do what we need to do.”

The series heads to Las Vegas to open the next round, a track where Larsson has won the last two races. He also won at the other tracks in the round – Homestead and Martinsville.

“We go into Vegas very confident with our recent run there,” Daniels said. “We're going to have a healthy amount of respect for that race and prepare for all of them.”

Reddick Assembly

Reddick, the regular-season champion, made hard contact with Hamlin trying to avoid Austin Dillon in the second stage. He had to pit several times for repairs and spent much of the incident behind Logano fighting for what they thought was the (hours after Bowman learned of the DQ).

With 27 laps remaining Logano did not want to give up his track position and pitting for tires proved correct as Reddick blistered his way from 26th to 11th over, leaving him four points ahead of Logano, who dropped from fourth to eighth over. Last 20 laps.

Reddick cleared it mostly but made contact with Daniel Hemrick on the back of the hair.

“He just made a mistake,” Hemrick said. “I knew he was on new tires. … Nothing serious, just a bit of chaos there. I know he's on tires and he's got to move on but I wish there was a little more patience.”

Beyond feeling bad about that mistake, it was a great performance for the driver for the team co-owned by Michael Jordan.

“It's not exactly a plan to get back to the front, it's to get together with your favorite fellow drivers,” Reddick said. “But that's racing. It's a cutoff race. You've got to be aggressive and you've got to go for it. I tried to do it as cleanly as possible. … It was definitely a mistake.

“It doesn't change what happened. It happened. But we had to pass some cars.”

Cindric did his best to finish fourth. Briscoe and Suarez had mechanical problems.

“I felt within reason, without going over my head, the team said a great race, I felt I ran a great race – just not enough,” Cindric said. “I felt we were great but not the best. Really great to bring it when we needed it the most. But we have to find another level to win.”

Bob Pokeras covers NASCAR for Fox Sports. He spent decades covering motorsports, including more than 30 Daytona 500s for ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene Magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @Bob Krass.