McDizzle raises media focus

Rookie Michael McDowell is making his presence felt in the spotlight.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Michael McDowell came to Texas Motor Speedway as a NASCAR rookie known best for infuriating Jeff Burton during his Sprint Cup debut.

Then the kid known as “McDizzle” barrel-rolled his car around the track in the most spectacular crash in recent history.

Now he’s an overnight sensation, booked solid on national TV shows to discuss the wreck he lived to talk about. It’s created mixed feelings for McDowell, who didn’t quite want to become famous this way.

“I have two feelings about it — one is that I want to be in the media spotlight for the right reason, and that’s for being a good race car driver and running well,” McDowell said Saturday. “The second part of it is that you’ll take it whenever you can get it. Especially with the way this sport is right now. We don’t want to go out there and wreck cars to get on TV, that’s never the plan.

“If you’re going to do one as spectacular as we did ... we’ll definitely soak up as much as we can get.”

The wreck during Friday’s qualifying session capped an auspicious first week on the job for McDowell. He debuted last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway with a decent run for a rookie on a difficult short track. But when his desire not to lose another lap interfered with Burton’s attempt to pass, the 23-year-old newcomer angered the veteran.

Burton offered a blistering critique of McDowell immediately after the race, and the criticism spoiled what should have been a shining moment for McDowell, who finished 26th.

It also raised concerns that McDowell perhaps isn’t ready to race at NASCAR’s top level. Although he’s turned hundreds of laps testing a Cup car for Michael Waltrip Racing, his only previous NASCAR experience was four Nationwide races and one Truck Series event.

Asked Friday if he maybe wasn’t in over his head, even McDowell acknowledged his rise into the No. 00 Toyota wasn’t conventional. Despite his limited seat time, McDowell was promoted when team officials had to fill the hole created following Dale Jarrett’s retirement.

The team doesn’t yet have the resources to field Nationwide cars or trucks for McDowell, so moving him up was the only option.

“The seat that was available at Michael Waltrip Racing was for the Sprint Cup Series. I didn’t walk in there and say, ’Hey, I’m a Sprint Cup driver. I deserve it. I want to be in it,”’ he said. “For sure, it will be a tough year and I’m going to have to learn. It’s tough to learn at this level. Do I belong? No, I don’t belong, but I’m going to work hard to get to the point where I do.”

Just more than two hours later, his car was flipping down the track in an accident that left even the most hardened NASCAR veterans wide-eyed and frozen in front of televisions that looped the replay during a lengthy delay to repair the wall McDowell hit.

It happened on his second qualifying lap when McDowell briefly lost control of the car entering the first turn. Many believe he slid in a wet spot of material meant to dry oil that had been spilled on the track earlier.

McDowell then overcorrected as he attempted to regain control of the car, and his Toyota darted up the track and directly into the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier. The car ricocheted off the wall and onto its roof, then rolled at least eight times before finally coming to rest at the bottom of the high-banked track.

“That was a scary incident,” pole-winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “We all held our breath for a few seconds there because it looked pretty bad. We have pretty safe cars and that was good to see him get out.”