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Michael McDowell, No. 34 team upset with Ross Chastain after spinning out during Stage 2 restart

JHby:Jonathan Howard•06/04/23•

Jondean25

Michael McDowell
(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

It looks like Michael McDowell has made another best friend on the track, this time it was none other than Ross Chastain. McDowell and his NASCAR team were up in arms after Chastain made some contact with the No. 34 on the Stage 2 restart.

Heading into the pits after Stage 1, Michael McDowell and some others only took two tires. That was a risky move and even more so when McDowell was taking contact while three-wide into Turn 2.

Front Row Motorsports might have a little bit of payback to dish out later in this race. Let’s not forget this is where Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin got into it with each other last year.

“He just shot a half lane above the rumbles and took you out,” the FRM radio said to McDowell.

Of course, at this point, there is already a saying for when this happens. Even when it isn’t Chastain’s fault, he gets blamed. So when he plays a major factor in an incident like he did with this one, then you get Michael McDowell on the radio saying “I believe what they call these days is getting Chastain-ed.”

Check out the incident below and see for yourself. This was a little bit of hard racing, Chastain got on the rumbles and his car bounced up the track. At least from my perspective. Chastain has been a lot more egregious in the past.

Ross Chastain messes up Michael McDowell’s restart

The bad news for Michael McDowell is that he had to start much further back than he would have liked. He wasn’t having a terrible day, but spinning out like that is going to put him down bad. Early on in Stage 2, McDowell is running P29 and it doesn’t look like that will improve.

As for Ross Chastain, like usual, he’s doing great. The No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevy is running in the top 10 and has some decent speed. Whether or not that will maintain over the course of this race is still up for question. Right now, Ryan Blaney is running away with the race and Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are hoping to play catch up.

A lot of times this season, last season, and in seasons before, Chastain clearly caused a wreck. There is a sliding scale to his incidents. You have the Brennan Poole and Kyle Larson wreck from earlier this season on the more offensive side. Then you have small bumps and things like this on the other hand.

If McDowell had taken four tires instead of just two on that stage break, maybe he would have had the grip to hold on. Or maybe Chastain should have waited to go three-wide. This one will be added to the list, I’m sure.