TALLADEGA, Ala. – “I just wanted to get to the line. Come on!”
Michael McDowell channeled that frustration over the radio — maybe to his team, maybe to himself, maybe to no one in particular — as he sat in the grass of the Talladega Superspeedway tri-oval in a wrecked, broken-down, crashed No. 34 Ford who led the GEICO 500 entering that tri-oval on the final lap Sunday afternoon. Everything went almost so well for the Front Row Motorsports driver. All the way until things went wrong.
MORE: Race results | Photos on the trail
Pushes from Ford housemates Brad Keselowski and Noah Gragson on the final lap pushed McDowell into a clear lead exiting Turn 4. With momentum, Keselowski shot high to make his move and was quickly blocked by McDowell. So Keselowski went low – and so did McDowell. But that final dart caused McDowell to spin sideways in front of the field as he charged toward the checkered flag, setting up the Big One — the often-inevitable multi-car accident that rears its head in the middle of the Talladega draft.
McDowell, polesitter for Sunday’s race, was just yards away from making his third trip to Victory Lane and first of 2024. Instead, Tyler Reddick celebrated the win as McDowell finished 31st, the first car one lap down because his No. 34 Ford – its nose torn off and hanging to the passenger side of the vehicle – couldn’t cross the finish line.
“Broken my heart, man,” McDowell said. “You know, I’ll stop a little early and we’ll win the race, you know? But that’s racing.”
Fear was written all over the 2021 Daytona 500 champion’s face.
“It’s a shame. So disappointed,” McDowell said. “Yes, you just want to get to the finish there and we had a chance to win the race. And I haven’t seen the replay and I’m just going off what I felt and saw. I went up to block Brad’s escape, and when I went back down, I wanted… just now wasn’t clear, you know? I barely got my bumper and turned around, you know, but just too bad because we had a good shot at getting the Dark Horse Mustang in Victory Lane.
McDowell, a 2023 winner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, has shown superspeedway superiority in qualifying this season, taking home Busch Light Pole Awards at both Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega, in addition to a front-row start for this year’s Daytona 500 – all resulting in a total of 69 laps led between the three events.
But Sunday’s sting negated much of that final stretch, even after McDowell led 33 of the final 47 laps at Talladega. Across the three drafting races, McDowell has just one top 10 that shows his strength.
WATCH: Keselowski’s take on the last-lap crash
“I mean, it’s encouraging that we’ve had the fastest car on all three highways so far this year,” crew chief Travis Peterson told NASCAR.com. put it in a better place. Just the way the runs go. It was perfect when the 45 (Reddick) and 6 (Keselowski) were side by side, and unfortunately the 6 came clear. He started dragging (braking). We drug back to him.
“I think we had the right block. I think when he (McDowell) turned right to avoid getting under the line, he got a little loose at the same time the 6 hit us, and it’s just one of those speedway deals, you know? No one is to blame. If we come second, we will make the same move. Just, heartbreaker man. We’ve been so close to winning about four or five times this year, I feel like, and something happens: a crash, something. It just kills you. I feel like we’ve had really fast cars and now we’re in last place in terms of points. But if you keep showing up with fast cars, things will take care of themselves.”
McDowell’s name is no longer a surprise to be at the top of the leaderboard, especially on these giant highways where the quality of a driver’s drawing ability dictates success. The aftermath of Sunday’s race, however, left him with plenty to parse.
“I’m a student of the game, you know?” McDowell said. “I’m going to look back and study and learn and figure out what I could have done differently and better and work with my spotter (Michael Fisher) and try to figure it out. But I’m super disappointed. I hated that other people got involved in my mess. But I am proud of our effort and proud of our speed and I am proud of our racing team.”
Contributions: Zack Albert
