Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger 'dust-up' on stage ahead of NASCAR’s $1,000,000 challenge

Michael McDowell had a playful physical altercation with AJ Allmendinger amid the unprecedented In-Season Challenge. The two are facing each other in the first round of the tournament for a chance to win the grand prize of $1 million.

For the uninitiated, NASCAR introduced the In-Season Challenge as a mid-season, single-elimination tournament spanning five races. The tournament consists of 32 full-time drivers who were seeded based on their performance in the last three races (Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono).

Michael McDowell, driver of the #71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, finished 30th at Michigan, fifth at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, and 35th at Pocono to earn the 11th seed in the mid-season tournament. His first-round opponent, Allmendinger, had the 22nd seed.

Things seem to be heating up between the two after they went at each other before the race at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) even started. NASCAR Insider Toby Christie shared on X the drivers' interaction during the intro ceremony and wrote:

“Here was the ‘dust-up’ in driver intros between McDowell and Allmendinger.”

Michael McDowell started the Atlanta summer race 32nd, 11 positions behind AJ Allmendinger. It was his worst starting position of the year, giving him a poor start to the chase for the $1 million mid-season prize money.

The 2025 Quaker State 400 started later than scheduled due to inclement weather at the 1.540-mile track. Joey Logano led the field to green ahead of a sea of Ford drivers, including Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, and Austin Cindric.

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“It's just an illusion”: Michael McDowell on NASCAR's horsepower increase debate

Michael McDowell weighed in on the horsepower increase debate with a hot take. He argued that uprating the V8 engine won't change the racing product, calling it an illusion. Instead, he suggested making changes to the tires.

The 40-year-old Arizona native said (via Dalton Hopkins on X):

“I don't think it will help the product. I think it’s just an illusion that some of the drivers and media are trying to paint. I don't think it will make a lucky difference in any of those things.” “We just need to keep adding softer tires and having more tire wear. I think it's gonna be a lot of work and not much of a result on that. Will see though, open-minded to it,” he added.

The current horsepower rating is 670 hp for most tracks. Meanwhile, superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega lower the power to 510. These are the power figures for the Next-Gen car (2022-present) after allowing previous iterations to run as much as 900 hp.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua