Michael McDowell contacted Ryan Blaney after the NASCAR incident in New Hampshire

This was also the argument he made to Blaney, primarily apologizing when he went to the defending champion to talk about it.

“I know he has to win and stuff, and that’s his excuse, but you have to calculate, be a little more calculated, and it’s just annoying that we’re at the expense of that,” Blaney said on the USA Network post-race show. “But man, I thought we had a good chance to compete. I was happy because we came in, put tires on and made a big adjustment, and I was looking forward to restarting behind Bell and seeing if we could have something for him, but I just never really got a chance.”

Speaking to FOX Sports, McDowell said just that.

“I was in an all-or-nothing situation and had to go for it,” McDowell said. “I know it was a no-win move, but I had to go for it. All the guys going down and one and two on those restarts were getting slammed, so I knew I had to come in the middle. I just hit the left side on the wet paint and it just took off.”

“I hate it for Blaney. I know it ruined his day, it ruined my day too and I apologized to the guys for that. But I’m at a point in the season where I have to try too. You don’t know until you get there and I was just in a little too deep.”

With his win at Iowa last weekend, Blaney secured a return to the Cup Series playoffs and McDowell now has just nine races to do the same since the race he won late last year, the IMS Road Course, is no longer on the schedule.

McDowell is 22nd overall, so a top-five finish doesn’t mean that much. Blaney is eighth overall, and any top-10 finish earns extra playoff points at the start of each championship round, so it’s not like not finishing in the top-5 doesn’t matter to the 12-man team.

To make matters worse, McDowell’s Front Row Motorsports team has entered into a technical alliance with Team Penske through Ford Performance.

Matt Weaver is a motorsports insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Þjórsárden.