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Thinkin’ Out Loud: Michael McDowell Almost Saved Texas Motor Speedway

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What Happened?

Joey Logano held on during an overtime restart by fending off Ross Chastain to pick up his second career NASCAR Cup Series win at Texas Motor Speedway. The rest of the top five were Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Erik Jones.

The victory marks the first top-five result for Logano in 2025. Additionally, Jones’ fifth-place result is his first at a non-drafting track since Kansas Speedway in the fall of 2023.

See also
NASCAR Cup Series Results: Joey Logano Wins Wurth 400 in Overtime

What Really Happened?

Are you disappointed in another Logano win?

Aren’t you just fed up with Texas Motor Speedway because of it?

Would you feel the same if Michael McDowell won?

Probably not.

At the beginning of the day, Carson Hocevar appeared to be the one who was going to carry the Spire Motorsports banner after starting from the pole and remaining in the top 10 for most of the event.

So, imagine everyone’s surprise — and delight — when underdog McDowell took the lead from Larson after a restart with only 23 laps to go.

Up to that point, Sunday (May 4) felt like a reminder of why Texas has become a butt of the joke for NASCAR fans in the last eight years. Since the repave, passing has been nearly impossible and has made for it to seem like more of a track position crap shoot rather than one that takes driving talent and strategy. Take two tires on a late-race pit stop to suddenly gain the lead and even stay there.

And that’s exactly what McDowell and Spire crew did.

McDowell started next to Larson for multiple restarts but to no avail. However, the No. 71 didn’t lose any positions, either, as the constant crashing and restarts kept him within reaching distance for the lead. Finally, on lap 244, Larson started on the bottom and McDowell capitalized and cleared him on the outside.

At that moment, many of you were probably fans of McDowell and the Texas repave.

Chastain was.

McDowell may have been only on two fresh tires versus everyone else’s four, but he had the lead and clean air. That’s all he needed, and despite another restart in which he was ahead of Blaney by inches in time for the next caution, it looked as though that evil Texas repave was going to be his – and many underdog fans – saving grace.

Well, until Logano passed him with four to go, and then he binned it.

So, yes, go ahead and comment about how Logano didn’t deserve the win, and that Texas Motor Speedway should be bulldozed to the ground and so on and so forth. Maybe you have a point.

With another unpopular race and unpopular winner, maybe Texas won’t be on the calendar anymore in the future. Maybe it’ll get repaved into another Atlanta Motor Speedway. Maybe NASCAR will throw dirt on it and make it into a dirt track. Maybe we’ll make it into another ROVAL.

But don’t forget, Texas was four laps away from giving us a popular upset win.

See also
Michael McDowell 4 Laps Short of Riding 2-Tire Call to Texas Upset

Who Stood Out?

The winner is Logano, and the talk of the town is McDowell.

But the star of The Lone Star State was the man that finished fourth.

Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, was coming off of a typical Larson performance after the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday (May 3) where he ran away with the lead and fended off multiple challengers in the final few restarts of the race to win.

It took some time, but the Elk Grove, Calif., native was in the same position near the end of stage two. He went on to win the stage, and it continued his streak of winning at least one stage in every race at Texas since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021.

Even through two restarts, Larson stayed ahead of the rest of the field. It wasn’t until McDowell emerged as the leader after a restart in lap 244 that the No. 5 became mired in traffic.

The Californian was ahead for a race-high 90 laps before the event was over, and despite not winning, Sunday felt like a great way to begin what will be a very busy month of May for Larson.

Who Fell Flat?

McDowell’s near win will be remembered as a huge missed opportunity and is probably the most qualified in this category.

But he wasn’t the only one.

On lap 84, Josh Berry took the lead from pseudo-teammate Austin Cindric on pit road after the conclusion of stage one. Berry had the lead at Texas, and you know what that means; he was going to keep that lead until a pit stop or a restart.

Or, in a very unlikely occurrence, he hits a well-known bump on the outside lane of turn 4 and crashes while in the lead.

Ouch.

Berry had increased his lead over the rest of the field at that point and while he didn’t appear to be the car to beat up to that point, he certainly was at least going to be a contender. That was a promising thought, too, because the last time Berry raced at a 1.5-mile oval with a tri-oval, he won.

It was becoming a setup for a repeat of that, but Berry’s spin and crash put him behind the wall for several laps, ruining any chances of not only another Wood Brothers Racing win, but surely at least a top five.

See also
Monday Morning Pit Box: Pit Strategy Calls Are Bigger in Texas

Paint Scheme of the Race

For a race that not many likely have highlighted on their calendars, there were plenty of special designs to admire this weekend. That said, there were certainly some honorable mentions.

Instead of donning its usual all black with green highlight Monster Energy design, the No. 35 Toyota of Riley Herbst featured a bright vibrant rainbow livery with Beatbox as its sponsor.

It’s a welcome change to the usual one-color Monster car we’ve seen done by numerous teams for more than a decade. A black base with bright rainbow colors as secondaries is almost always an appealing combination of designs.

Speaking of black bases with bright secondaries.

The Tootsies designs in recent years usually impress every time, but Ross Chastain‘s scheme this year may be the best yet.

The purple neon design is reminiscent of those that you might find above a Tootsies lounge late at night on the Nashville Broadway and seems to use all the extra space the Next Gen car allows to its benefit.

Plus, I’m a sucker for hot rod flames.

But there wasn’t a scheme this weekend that had more meaning, more history or more appeal than perhaps those of the NAPA Auto Parts camp.

Or more specifically on Sunday, Chase Elliott‘s.

It’s very rare to see a sponsor celebrate a 100th anniversary nowadays, but in what is arguably one of the most recognizable and longest-running brands in NASCAR, NAPA deserves to celebrate with style.

And it did.

The golden livery hasn’t only seen action on Elliott’s Cup car, but also on Daniel Hemric’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series No. 19, Brad Sweet’s High Limit Sprint Car and Ron Capps’ NHRA funny car.

That makes this golden anniversary a little more special, and you bet the diecast will sell like hotcakes.

What’s Next?

The Cup Series follows the yellow brick road.

NASCAR returns to what has been claimed to be the best track on the calendar for the Next Gen car at Kansas Speedway. The AdventHealth 400 will air live on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, May 11 at 3 p.m. ET.

NASCAR At Track Coordinator at Frontstretch

Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.

Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT

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