For as much success as Michael McDowell has had at Daytona, including a win in the 2021 Daytona 500, his results at Talladega never matched until a piece of advice from a former teammate.
Since a chat with David Ragan when they were teammates at Front Row Motorsports, McDowell has four top 10s in the last seven Talladega races.
His stretch of three top 10s in the last four Talladega races is matched only by Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones for best in the series at this 2.66-mile track during that time.
It’s a marked change for McDowell, who was eliminated by a crash in six of 10 Talladega races from the spring 2014 race to the spring 2019 race.
As he struggled to finish at Talladega, he ran well at Daytona, placing in the top 15 in 10 of 11 Daytona races in a stretch that ended with his win in the 500.
NASCAR TALK | NBC SPORTS
Michael McDowell’s Talladega turnaround due to some friendly advice
By Dustin Long Apr 23, 2023, 10:36 AM EDT
TALLADEGA, Ala— For as much success as Michael McDowell has had at Daytona, including a win in the 2021 Daytona 500, his results at Talladega never matched until a piece of advice from a former Michael McDowell.
Since a chat with David Ragan when they were teammates at Front Row Motorsports, McDowell has four top 10s in the last seven Talladega races.
His stretch of three top 10s in the last four Talladega races is matched only by Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones for best in the series at this 2.66-mile track during that time.
It’s a marked change for McDowell, who was eliminated by a crash in six of 10 Talladega races from the spring 2014 race to the spring 2019 race.
As he struggled to finish at Talladega, he ran well at Daytona, placing in the top 15 in 10 of 11 Daytona races in a stretch that ended with his win in the 500.
McDowell couldn’t figure out why his success at Daytona didn’t translate to Talladega.
“What’s the deal?” McDowell said of his differing results at those two tracks. “They’re superspeedways. They’re the same. I take the same approach. Make the same move. Same level of aggression. But time after time when you don’t finish these races, you got to look at yourself and say, ‘What am I doing wrong?’
“I don’t chalk it up to luck. I don’t chalk winning these races up to luck. I think it’s timing and preparation and putting in the work, otherwise Brad Keselowski wouldn’t be so successful here and a handful of other guys that have won a lot of races.”
The issue for McDowell was that he often was in a crash late in the event at Talladega.
Ragan, a teammate to McDowell in 2018-19 and again in 2021 at Front Row Motorsports, pointed out what McDowell was doing wrong.
“What was the game-changer for me is I would always favor the top (lane), always favor the top,” McDowell said. “The crashes would always wash up (the track) here.”
Ragan told McDowell to run the bottom lane in the final laps at Talladega.
“Sometimes you’ve got to be lucky, you know,” said a smiling Busch, who led only three laps in securing the RCR team its 13th Talladega victory. “Sometimes these races come down to that and you’ve got to take them when they come your way.
“The seas kind of parted there when they Blaney and Wallace went up the race track there,” Busch said. “They were trying to push-draft and these cars are just not stable enough to do that. I saw the 23 Bubba Wallace turn a little bit sideways, and I was like, ‘just get out of the way.’ “
Blaney, who led a race-best 47 of the 196 laps, looked poised to snap a 55-race winless streak at Talladega before the last lap incident. He was still able to continue after the contact with Wallace, but finished runner-up despite leading the most laps on the afternoon.
“It’s just you get big runs and you take them when you can,” Blaney said, noting of the contact with Wallace, “I’m glad everyone’s okay, but in my mind you can’t make a triple move like that, a triple block. You can’t block three times, I don’t know, the runs are so big and as the leader Bubba’s (Wallace) trying to block, which is the right thing to do. But I think he kinda moved three times. I got to go somewhere. I hate for cars to get torn up and I hate for us to be so close to the win.
“I’m not blaming anybody. It’s just hard racing at the end of this thing and unfortunate that cars got torn up and we missed out on another win.”
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver Chris Buescher finished third, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe and RFK owner-driver Brad Keselowski, who leads all current competitors with six career Talladega wins.
Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez and Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland rounded out of the top 10.
It was by all accounts, the typical, hard-nosed, tight-quarter racing fans and drivers have come to expect at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Sunday’s race featured 57 lead changes – the most at Talladega since 2011 (72 lead changes).
It was a markedly different top of the final leaderboard based on the afternoon’s efforts. SHR drivers Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick each led 11 laps and ran among the front pack for most of the day, but were collected in a multi-car accident in the first overtime period. They finished 20th and 21st, respectively.
Wallace, whose 35 laps out front in his No. 23 Toyota finished 28th after the last lap accident.
Also noteworthy, Chase Elliott finished 12th and led seven laps – the first laps he’s led since returning to competition last week after missing six races recovering from a broken leg. Pole winner Denny Hamlin led seven laps on the day and finished 15th.
Ironically the race’s earlier mishaps didn’t happen from aggressive action on the race track but instead in slower miscues on pit road. Tyler Reddick spun his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota getting on pit road making his first stop of the race and only six laps later Briscoe spun his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford on pit road bringing out a yellow flag – only to recover and take that top-five finish.
Wallace, who earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series win here at Talladega in 2021, led the most laps (23) in Stage 1. But it was Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott who ultimately drove forward to claim his first stage win of the season leading the final 11 laps.
There were 17 lead changes among nine drivers in Stage 2 – with Almirola moving out front in the final feet to the finish line to get around Elliott and claim that stage win.
As for the two victories in the opening 10 races of Busch’s tenure with Childress, the NASCAR Hall of Fame owner grinned.
“I think he’s helping us build RCR back up to where we want it to be,” said Childress, glancing with a smile at a bottle of race-winning champagne he brought to the winner’s press conference.
Christopher Bell maintains the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead by 11 points over Ross Chastain as the NASCAR Cup Series moves to the “Monster Mile” – Dover Motor Speedway – for the Würth 400 next Sunday at 2 p.m. (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
OVERVIEW
OnMyWay Is The #1 Distracted Driving Mobile App In The Nation!
OnMyWay, based in Charleston, SC, The Only Mobile App That Pays its Users Not to Text and Drive.
The #1 cause of death among young adults ages 16-27 is Car Accidents, with the majority related to Distracted Driving.
OnMyWay’s mission is to reverse this epidemic through positive rewards. Users get paid for every mile they do not text and drive and can refer their friends to get compensated for them as well.
The money earned can then be used for Cash Cards, Gift Cards, Travel Deals and Much, Much More….
The company also makes it a point to let users know that OnMyWay does NOT sell users data and only tracks them for purposes of providing a better experience while using the app.
The OnMyWay app is free to download and is currently available on both the App Store for iPhones and Google Play for Android @ OnMyWay; Drive Safe, Get Paid.
Download App Now – https://r.onmyway.com
Sponsors and advertisers can contact the company directly through their website @ www.onmyway.com
OnMyWay is the Only Texting and Driving Solution That Pays
Trusted and 
By Millions of OnMyWay Mobile App Users