Michael McDowell Addresses Denny Hamlin Darlington Incident

Michael McDowell broke his silence on the on-track contact between himself and NASCAR Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin at Darlington. At the beginning of the final stage, McDowell’s No. 71 car made contact with Hamlin’s No. 11 machine, causing the latter to smack the outside wall.

The contact was disastrous for Hamlin as his car suffered toe link damage, forcing his No. 11 crew to make repairs. Hamlin would go a lap down but salvaged an 18th-place finish.

Hamlin’s finished cost him in the points standings. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver entered Gateway with a 25-point lead. However, with his struggles coupled with Christopher Bell’s victory in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington, Hamlin now clings to a seven-point lead over Bell.

McDowell on Hamlin incident: ‘Caught me off guard’

During media availability on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway, McDowell gave his side of the story.

“When he cleared up, it kinda caught me off guard but the 48 [Alex Bowman] was underneath both of us. I was trying to time getting going down the straightaway so we didn’t lose two spots right when he checked up. I don’t know if he just got a bad angle or because he did it so late but he lifted so much at the exit when we were almost straight that I just didn’t have enough time to check out of it,” McDowell said.

McDowell believes the blame rests on both he and Hamlin for the incident. Regardless, the Spire Motorsports driver did not want to be a part of it.

“The last thing you want to do is be in the story. That’s not it at all. It’s just unfortunate. Going back and seeing it, I think I could’ve done a little better, he could’ve done a little better and the whole thing would have been avoided, but it just happened,” McDowell said.

McDowell did not want to affect Hamlin’s Chase run

McDowell did not qualify for the 2026 Cup Series Chase.

Because of that, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner did not want to cause any problems for any Chase drivers. When the contact between the two happened, McDowell was left stunned. Since having a look at the replay, McDowell understands how it occurred.

“When you’re not in the Chase, the last thing you want to do is affect the Chase and so it’s not fun. More than anything, I was shocked at first. After I watched it, it made more sense a little bit, but at first I was like, ‘Man, why’d he come up at all? He didn’t need to,’ and then when I watched it back, I’m like, ‘Oh, he probably he was clear and is just going to take the line,'” McDowell said.

McDowell has two career NASCAR Cup Series wins. His latest victory came at the Indianapolis road course in 2023.