Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
McDowell defends decision not to push Logano in 500
CHARLOTTE, N.C. » Michael McDowell was still digesting his fifth-place finish at the Daytona 500 when Joey Logano appeared at the front of his car, angrily pointing at the Ford logo.
He was questioning McDowell’s loyalty to the 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 push me?”’ McDowell said on 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 new Mustang at Daytona and positioned its stable of drivers as heavy favorites to win “The Great American Race.” Most manufacturers 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 checkered flag on Sunday, perhaps because McDowell made a lane change that separated him from Logano. Both drivers were trying to win, yet both probably needed to 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. Logano finished fourth ahead of McDowell.
McDowell didn’t want to hear about brand loyalty in the aftermath of the race: “I just told him that my team doesn’t pay me to push Joey Logano to a win.”
McDowell is winless in 286 Cup starts since 2008 and doesn’t drive for one of NASCAR’s superstar teams. He moved last season to Front Row Motorsports, one of NASCAR’s 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,” McDowell said. “I have 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.”
Logano is NASCAR’s reigning champion and a former Daytona 500 winner.
McDowell has watched replays, spoken with Logano and Ford executives, and said he now realizes his best bet for a win would have been staying in line behind Logano.
“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,” McDowell said. “Looking 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 to help Logano win.