NASCAR’s nice guy was under fire after the Talladega race. You know him as the 2021 Daytona 500 Champion and one of the sport’s most beloved drivers, Michael McDowell. A few months ago, McDowell was, however, accused by an Xfinity Series crew chief of getting our EssentiallySports’ Lucky Dog on Track and Fan Controlled crew kicked out at Talladega for being “very, very noisy.”

Another week of Fan Controlled Sports and EssentiallySports team presence on the track, and McDowell has something more to add. No doubt, McDowell has been one of the most reliable drivers in NASCAR. He has greatly influenced teams like Front Row Motorsports, helping them establish a strong presence in a sport largely dominated by long-standing teams. But when away from the racing world, McDowell is “a follower of Jesus, a husband and a father,” as he told Jeff Gluck.

So it is safe to say that Michael McDowell is held in strong regard both on and off the track. Naturally, when the accusation happened, it created quite a buzz among fans. Well, in an on-ground exclusive chat with EssentiallySports, the official media partners of Real American Beer and Fan Controlled at Pocono, Michael McDowell cleared the air about the claims made surrounding #14 Xfinity Driver Mason Massey’s crew chief, Jason Miller.

Michael McDowell has ample experience with noisy people

What happened in Talladega? Mason Massey’s luck took a dramatic turn. While the driver failed to qualify for the main Xfinity race, Lady Luck intervened when Garrett Smithley’s car failed inspection, leading to his disqualification. And as they say, ‘one man’s misery is another man’s joy‘.

This twist in the tale caused the #14 team’s celebration to become a little loud, and it was reportedly kicked off the premises. Hence, they were reported by the mystery person, who, according to Jason Miller, was Michael McDowell. “A little too rowdy last night. And a driver—we’re still working on figuring out who—snitched on us for being too loud. So, the NASCAR police came and gave us a escort off the premises. But oddly, we just had to move our RV off, but then we were allowed to come back,” a member of Massey’s crew shared at the time.

But when on-ground reporter Bharat Aggarwal of EssentiallySports asked McDowell about his role in the incident at Pocono Raceway, the latter dismissed all the claims, looking confused. He stated that he had no idea that something as crazy as this had transpired at Talladega.

Michael McDowell said, “Oh no. I got five kids. We’re super noisy. So I don’t think it would’ve been me. You’re saying at Talladega? Oh yeah no, I mean I didn’t for sure. If you guys were loud, I didn’t hear you. So no, I hadn’t heard that. That’s the first time I’d heard that.”

As he kept looking clueless at the EssentiallySports’ reporter, he further advocated, “I mean the way I’m wired, if somebody was keeping me up, I’d go outside and say, ‘Hey. Can you calm it down a little bit?’ I don’t know if I’d know who to call to kick somebody out. But yeah, no it wasn’t me.” Although the Front Row Motorsports driver denied any involvement in the Talladega incident, he found it amusing.

Being a professional racer is no easy task. With races scheduled across the country, drivers’s and families often have to stay on the road for the majority of the year. And if you have kids? That’s a whole other story that the #34 driver revealed in the conversation with Bharat.

Delving into the challenges of having five kids, McDowell also shared his wife’s concerns about him yelling at their children. He then went on to tell Bharat his side of the story, stating, “I don’t care if they hear us yelling at our kids. This is life. Like, we live out here on the road, right? And anybody who has kids knows that it’s not always unicorns and rainbows.”

McDowell shares three daughters and two sons with his wife, Jami McDowell. The oldest child, Trace, is 15 years old, and the youngest, a daughter, was born in February 2023. So one can only imagine how chaotic the McDowell household is!

As for the racing side of things, McDowell will start P21 at Pocono. The driver is currently 22nd in the Cup Series standings, shy of a victory, with two Top-5s and six Top-10s. He will have to bring in some results if he wishes to make it to the playoffs for the second time in a row.

For now, at least the Lucky Dog on Track team was able to uncover the truth behind Michael McDowell’s involvement in the Talladega incident. However, the actual culprit still remains unknown. Who do you think it is?