Michael McDowell addresses post-race exchange with Ryan Preece at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Michael McDowell took to Twitter following Monday’s Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to address the on-track incident between he and Ryan Preece.
“It was 100% my fault,” McDowell tweeted. “@RyanPreece_ has every right to be mad. I made a mistake, got loose and ruined his day. I would be mad as well.”
During the final stage of the race, McDowell’s No. 34 Ford got loose going into Turns 1 and 2. McDowell made contact with Preece’s No. 41 Ford, sending him into the wall. Preece confronted McDowell on pit road after the race, and the two exchanged words. Preece initially didn’t seem interested in hearing from McDowell, but the two eventually got on the same page and walked away smiling together.
McDowell, who entered the Crayon 301 occupying the 16th and final playoff spot, continued his string of quality runs, racing his way to a P13 finish. Preece, meanwhile, finished 28th, further sending him out of the playoff picture. Ahead of the race, Preece opened up on the importance of winning a race with now just six races remaining until the playoffs begin in September.
“We have been bringing cars that I’m feeling really comfortable with… This is the weekend I feel like, similar to Martinsville,” Preece told Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “We bring a really fast race car. I do my job and we do everything right, we can sneak one in. I don’t think we are not capable of winning, we are certainly able to do that.
“So I would say, New Hampshire, Richmond, is somewhere that I am looking forward to go into and some of these road courses. There’s a lot of opportunities to try and be off on strategy and execute and win. I think that’s really the goal.”
Martin Truex Jr. dominates Crayon 301 at New Hampshire for third win of the season
After 301 laps at New Hampshire, it was Martin Truex Jr. who crossed the checkered line first to score his third victory of the season. Truex Jr. won in dominating fashion, leading 254 laps, including 163 of the opening 185 laps.
“What we’ve been able to do here over the years was pretty remarkable, and to not win was really getting frustrating,” Truex Jr. said after the race, via NASCAR.com. “[Crew chief] James [Small] and I have talked about it many times and talked with [teammate] Christopher [Bell] before the race, and he said, ‘You’ve led more laps here than I’ve even run here in the Cup Series.’
“Just really awesome job by everybody. What a race car we had here today. Just proud of the whole team. Pit stops were flawless. The car was unbelievable. We had some challenges throughout the race, and the car was a handful at times, but we put our heads down and just kept digging.”