TC Daily Pit Stop: Michael McDowell Scores Hometown Top-10; Chase Briscoe Leaves Phoenix in Deep Chase Hole
TC Daily Pit Stop: Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Michael McDowell Scores Hometown Top-10 After Mid-Race Flat Tire
The word of the day for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Phoenix? Adversity.
Michael McDowell was yet another driver, much like eventual race-winner Ryan Blaney, who battled back from adversity in the early stages of the event to record a solid finish, bringing home a ninth-place result in the Straight Talk Wireless 500.
Piloting the No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, McDowell had a right-front tire go flat during a caution flag at the end of the race’s second stage, believed to have been caused by debris littering the racetrack from Noah Gragson, who exploded a brake rotor on his No. 4 Ford Mustang and slammed the outside SAFER Barrier.
At the time of the flat tire, McDowell was sitting just outside the top-10, running in 11th. However, the unscheduled pit stop (and the penalty for coming in when the pits were closed) would dropkick the Phoenix, Arizona-native outside the top-30.
READ MORE
Chase Briscoe In Deep Hole After Latest Rough Result At Phoenix
It’s been a rough start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season for Chase Briscoe, one of the four drivers who contended for the Cup Series title last November at Phoenix Raceway. After Sunday’s race at Phoenix, the fourth race of the ‘26 season, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finds himself in a massive hole, points-wise, without a “win-and-you’re-in” rule to bail him out of it.
After a 36th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, and a 37th-place finish at Circuit of the Americas two weeks ago, Briscoe came home a disappointing 37th at Phoenix after a puzzling crash on Lap 132 of the 312-lap event. The 37th-place result marked Briscoe’s second consecutive last-place finish.
And the most recent last-place finish comes on what was a stout day overall for the four-car Joe Gibbs Racing team, as Christopher Bell led a race-high 114 laps en route to a second-place finish, Ty Gibbs finished fourth, and Denny Hamlin came home fifth.
Briscoe also had a good day going, but it all went south in a hurry, for the Indiana native.
READ MORE
Additional Resources:
 | A guest post by
|