NASCAR: 23XI Racing avoids possible disaster with Hendrick decision

While Team Penske's Joey Logano was initially eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after Sunday afternoon's round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, his No. 22 team was not.

23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick held off Logano for the eighth and final spot in the round of 8, but the No. 22 team beat out Reddick's No. 45 team. Reddick beat Logano by four points, but Logano's team beat Reddick's by one.

Reddick won the regular season championship and scored 15 additional playoff points because of it, but the No. 45 team only scored 10 extra playoff points with a second place finish behind Kyle Larson's No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team.

Larson himself didn't win the regular season title since he missed the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte oval when he opted to stay at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to compete in the rain-delayed Indy 500. Reddick beat him by just one point, so the 24 points Justin Allgaier scored in Larson's place at Charlotte were enough to give the No. 5 team the regular season owner title over the No. 45 team.

So the No. 45 team was initially left out of the round of 8 following Sunday's race.

But after Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman was disqualified from the race due to the fact that his No. 48 Chevrolet was found not to be in compliance with the minimum weight requirements in post-race technical inspection, the No. 45 team advanced to the round of 8 of the owner playoffs after all, as the points lost by the No. 48 team were enough to drop it below the cut line.

Hendrick Motorsports noted that they planned to look into the situation and decide whether or not to appeal. They ultimately decided not to, solidifying the No. 45 team's spot in a semifinal round for which they did not initially qualify.

Hendrick Motorsports' decision not to appeal prevented a potential nightmare situation for 23XI Racing. While the appeal was by no means guaranteed to produce an overturned disqualification, the door for such an outcome was open, which could have resulted in 23XI Racing's No. 45 team going from out to in to back out again, due a situation they had nothing to do with.

Instead, the No. 45 team is moving on in the owner playoffs. Fortunately for Reddick, he was set to move on in the driver playoffs anyway after rallying to beat Logano on the race track.

Reddick is set to start the round of 8 in third place in the point standings, 10 points above the Championship 4 cut line. The No. 45 team is set to start the round in third in the owner standings as well, but only five points above the Championship 4 cut line due to the aforementioned five-playoff point discrepancy.

The South Point 400 is set to get the round of 8 underway this Sunday, October 20. NBC is set to provide live coverage from Las Vegas Motor Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!