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Michael McDowell No. 71 car fails inspection, crew member ejected at Charlotte

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Jonathan Howard | Last updated May 24, 2025 4:19 PM ET

The No. 71 team of Michael McDowell will have one less team member for the longest race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600. Four stages, 600 miles, and one less crew member? NASCAR failed McDowell’s car twice in inspection and penalized the team as a result.

Whenever a car fails inspection twice, a crew member is ejected, and the team loses pit stall selection privileges. Usually, the car chief will be the crew member who is ejected. Griffin Ridder, McDowell’s car chief, has already been ejected from one race this season back at Phoenix.

Michael McDowell’s double failure is the only issue in the technical inspection. Every other team passed on the first or second attempt, according to Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic.

Michael McDowell’s car twice failed inspection. The team loses pit selection and will have a crew member ejected.

No other issues in tech.
— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) May 24, 2025

Michael McDowell has been doing well for Spire Motorsports this season. Crew chief Travis Peterson came over with him from Front Row Motorsports. They have great qualifying speed and have led 41 laps on the season. Still, there are no top-10 or top-five finishes for the 71 team.

Even without those solid finishes, McDowell is 20th in points. He is only two points behind his talented teammate, Carson Hocevar. If McDowell can find that extra gear, so to speak, the 71 team could start to make noise in the second half of the regular season.

The 71 team is definitely doing better than the No. 7 team of Justin Haley. Spire expanded to three charters a year ago, and there are still growing pains as they continue to develop the organization on a weekly basis. There is no doubt that the money is behind this team with Group 1001 and Gainbridge involved, as well as TWG Motorsports.

Michael McDowell looking for more in 2025

Last season at Front Row Motorsports, Michael McDowell led the Cup Series in pole awards. He won six of the poles on the season. In 1/6th of the races, McDowell was leading the field to green. That same speed has somewhat followed him to Spire.

McDowell earned the pole at Las Vegas. He has had good qualifying runs in other races as well. Things have not come together on Sunday for the 71 team, though. Three times this season, McDowell has finished P11.

Charlotte is a great time for this team to show up and make some noise. When it comes to the oval at Charlotte, McDowell hasn’t had the best luck. He has only three top-10 finishes on the oval. His P8 finish in 2022 in the Coca-Cola 600 is his career-best.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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