McDowell defends decision not to give push to Logano
CHARLOTTE, N. C. — digesting his fifth- place finish at the Daytona 500 at the front of his car, angrily pointing at the Ford logo.
He was questioning brand.
“He shows up pointing at the Ford emblem, pushing on the Ford, making his point ‘ Hey, you are a Ford driver, why didn’t you Tuesday. “It’s a two- way street, and if I got out of the car and started screaming at Joey for not going with me, everybody would say I was ridiculous and that I don’t belong up there and am not fast enough. God forbid I don’t push him to a win, now I’m the bad guy.”
The tension between a pair of Ford drivers is the fallout from a disappointing Daytona 500 for the blue oval brand. The manufacturer debuted its and positioned its stable of drivers as heavy favorites to win “The Great American align their teams to work together at Daytona and Talladega with the goal of getting one of their drivers — doesn’t matter who — into victory lane.
Ford fell short in the final overtime sprint to the - ell made a lane change that - - ing to win, yet both probably needed t o work together to have any chance at catching winner Denny Hamlin. Instead, Ford wound up locked out of a Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota podium sweep.
hear about brand loyalty in the aftermath of the race: “I just told him that my team doesn’t pay me to push
286 Cup starts since 2008 and doesn’t drive for one teams. He moved last sea - smaller teams, and managed one top-10 finish but was tied for a career- best 26th in the final Cup standings.
“I don’t have many chances to win races,” maybe four or five shots a year to try to win a race. These other guys, they have 35 more chances. I needed to take my chance to win a race.”
reigning champion and a former Daytona 500 winner.
himself lined up with the leaders in the closing laps of the Daytona 500 he was racing for the victory with no time to consider team alliances. He pulled out of the bottom lane, away from lane. The move hampered Hamlin for the win.
replays, spoken with - tives, and said he now realizes his best bet for a win would have been stay
“You’ve got a split-second decision to make a move and I had the momentum and thought it was best to go the outside and thought that was the right move,” back at it, if I could do it over again, the bottom would have been better for me.”
He remains adamant it was not his responsibility
Teamwork between manufacturers can work, but often depends on where drivers fall in the alliance.
- art-Haas Racing are the big - sports group seem more l i ke distant cousins. Ragan and their teams were not privy to the Penske and - a move t hat dumped middle lane, then cut another late multi- car to force his way back into line.
“Those guys don’t work - “They don’t help us at all. They want us to be there to support them when they need it, but they don’t let us in on when they’re going to pit, they don’t share strategy, they don’t tell us what’s going on. And so my frustration with Joey is, ‘Don’t come to me talking about brand loyalty when you guys don’t do nothing to help us. And you want me to help you when you don’t do anything for us?’”
career best in the Daytona 500, placing him ninth in - with a new rules package that is designed to tighten the on- track competition. The idea behind the rules is to slow the cars to keep them closer together and improve passing opportunities.
If it works, then drivers able to consistently compete - ell has seven career top-10 finishes, all but one was at either Daytona or Talladega.
“If this package races like Daytona and Talladega, I’m going to be in a great spot,” - fully we can have some highlights and put ourselves in a position to make some noise.”