Michael McDowell is a pole miser as of late, earning his sixth pole of the 2024 season at Talladega Superspeedway — a category where he leads all drivers so far this year. It’s a tremendous feat for a driver who failed earn a single pole in the first 15 years of his Cup career.
There is no reason to think the success will stop once the green flag flies for the 500-mile event. McDowell is a highly capable superspeedway racer and the winner of the 2021 Daytona 500. Earlier this year, he was mere seconds from winning at Talladega before an aggressive block ended with him spinning into the outside wall.
Michael McDowell, Front Row Motorsports, Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang wrecks and Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, Jordan Brand Toyota Camry
Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
“After the spring race, I played it in my head a lot,” admitted McDowell. “Just because you’re always trying to learn and study and figure out, ‘OK, what went right and what went wrong? How would you process it different? How would you make the moves different?’ It’s more analytical than just, ‘Oh, don’t make the last block.’ It’s how do you do all the things you need to do and still win the race. And then you kind of just lock in and get focused and you move on.
“You move on pretty quickly in our sport. You have to learn to do that because if not, next week is here and you can get in your head and anytime that happens you can lose momentum, good or bad, so you try to move on quickly,” he said.
“I don’t want to see” replays of Talladega loss
As NASCAR’s return to Talladega approached, replays of the dramatic finish that ended with McDowell in the wall, Corey LaJoie on his lid and Tyler Reddick in Victory Lane are popping up all over social media. The Front Row Motorsports driver has purposely avoided those clips as he doesn’t want to dwell on it.
“As this race came up and is coming up, you see it all on social media – the last lap,” explained McDowell. “Every time I just won’t even let it get to the wreck. I stop it. I just scroll up or scroll left or right. I don’t know what you call it, but it’s because I don’t want to see it. The reason I don’t want to see it is it’s hard. That was my shot to make the playoffs. That was our shot to get a win and it slipped out of our hands, but the reason I don’t want to watch it and the reason why I don’t reflect on it is because I’m staying in…
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