The functional purpose of that panel is protection, if you bottom out or hit some object sticking up in the center of the road surface. Not protection for the plastic panel it's attached to: protection for your engine (front of oil pan, etc). The stiffer plastic panel will distribute the hit more evenly than the flexible larger panel does.
The dealership should be able to easily replace the panel if there was no other damage, although they may need to order in the panel and/or fasteners that are missing. We're talking 2 minutes of labor.
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