McDowell’s playoff struggles continue at Richmond
A week removed from an early crash at Darlington, Michael McDowell finished 28th, five laps down, in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.
McDowell had a drive-through speeding penalty during Stage One that caused him to lose a lap. In the final stage, McDowell had another drive-through speeding penalty. McDowell, again, was speeding on pit road while serving his penalty which put him to five laps down.
“The first time I thought, ‘Maybe it was close,’ and then I sped and it was not close, so obviously we missed the configuration on the lights, and then I backed it down again and still sped again,” McDowell stated. “It’s unfortunate. Everybody did a really good job. We actually had good speed. ”
McDowell is 38 points behind Alex Bowman – the last driver currently locked into the Round of 12 – heading into the September 18 Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET; TV: NBCSN; Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
McDowell finished 20th at Bristol in September – the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race at the paved oval configuration.
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com