NASCAR moves into its third-to-last stop of the season at Talladega Superspeedway, which means almost all minds are focused on the lingering Championship 4. But drivers like Michael McDowell, who are not in contention, will in no way take their foot off the gas anytime soon.
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After Denny Hamlin’s run-ins with Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace, questions surfaced about how non-playoff drivers should handle racing around playoff teammates. Some expect help from those who are not even on their teams, just because their season is over. McDowell, however, does not want to buy into the chatter. To him, Talladega is not the place to play favorites, but a survival-of-the-fittest battle.
The Talladega Superspeedway is a track that lives up to its reputation for wrecks and sheer unpredictability. Fortune tends to favor no one for long at the high-banked chaotic track, but a handful of drivers have managed to keep their noses clean more often than not.
“When it comes to playoff contenders, you do think about them at most of the races, but not Talladega,” said McDowell. “There’s just no way of actually doing that, because you can’t help what’s going to happen at Talladega. That’s actually one of the less stressful races because of that. You can’t control the big one, when it’s going to happen, or who it’s going to take.”
For the Spire Motorsports driver, the mindset is clear-cut. “So, for us, we don’t have any pressure but to go there and try to win the race. So, it’s low pressure and low stress going into it. We’re not in a spot where we have to worry about the cutoff.”
“We’re not in a spot where we’re worried about points. We can just go and try to run up front and win the race,” he continued.
With 29 starts at Talladega under his belt and an average finish of 26.0, McDowell knows better than most that this track takes no prisoners. He’s cracked the top five only three times and the top 10 four, proof of just how unforgiving the place can be.
At Talladega, strategy can only take a driver so far. Fuel-saving tactics may rule the early laps, but during the final stage, it’s all about who can keep their car in one piece. By the time the “big one” claims its victims, it comes down to sheer luck and steady nerves; the last man standing often walks away with the spoils.
