Michael McDowell didn't score the win on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway; in fact, he didn't finish the race due to a late incident. However, he left the track knowing he had done everything he could to fight for his first win with Spire Motorsports.
"Just hate we didn't get it done, but we just knew we had to go for it," McDowell said after going from first to 26th in the span of two laps. "We went for it, and it didn't work out."
The incident occurred in the closing laps of the race. McDowell had the lead with 10 laps to go, but Joey Logano was closing fast with fresher tires. The Spire Motorsports driver successfully blocked the three-time champion multiple times, but the situation changed with four laps to go.
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Logano got a big run coming out of Turn 2. This helped him pull alongside McDowell, who tried pushing him to the track apron. Logano successfully navigated past and took the lead. Ryan Blaney then passed McDowell with three laps to go and pulled up directly in front of him.
Blaney's No. 12 took the air off the nose of the No. 71, which sent it hard into the outside wall. McDowell's car then careened across the track and slammed into the inside wall. This incident took him from contending for the win to a 26th-place finish.
Logano went on to win the race in overtime and take one of the remaining playoff spots.
"We were giving it everything we had to try to keep track position," McDowell said after a crash ended his race. "Joey (Logano) got a run there, I tried to block it. I went as far as I think you could probably go.
"When Blaney slid up in front of me, just took the air off the front, and I lost the back of it. I still had the fight in me. I probably should have conceded at that point."
With McDowell failing to finish the race, he fell further below the playoff cutline. He is now 20th in the standings and 26 points below Ricky Stenhouse Jr.