The yellow that prevented Michael McDowell from delivering Spire Motorsports their first NASCAR Cup Series since win since 2019 and the No. 71 Chevrolet's subsequent crash on the back straightaway at Texas Motor Speedway had to have been two of the most heartbreaking moments to conclude a Cup race at a mile-and-a-half oval of the Next Gen era.
There were questions when McDowell left Front Row Motorsports, the team with which he won the 2021 Daytona 500, after seven years, with many calling the move to Spire Motorsports for 2025 a lateral move at best.
But Spire Motorsports have shown speed on a fairly regular basis in 2025, highlighted by not only McDowell's near-win at one of NASCAR's more "cookie cutter" tracks but teammate Carson Hocevar's first career pole position for the same race.
The win would have been massive for McDowell, not only because it would have been his first since 2023, his team's first since 2019, and the first for a No. 71 car since Dave Marcis won three races in 1976. But it presumably would have taken a driver hovering right around the playoff cut line and vaulted him into the playoff picture as one of seven winners through the season's first 11 races.
Instead, winner number seven of the season became Team Penske's Joey Logano, the three-time and reigning series champion who has now won at least one race in 14 consecutive seasons.
And because McDowell's late misfortune did not result in the Wurth 400 presented by Liqui Moly seeing a repeat winner from earlier this season, Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry was the other big loser here.
Josh Berry the big loser at Texas
Berry looked like he very well might be the new king of the mile-and-a-half on Sunday, as unlikely as that may have sounded even two months ago. The driver of the No. 21 Ford scored his first career Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in mid-March, and he led a bunch of laps at Texas on Sunday.
Unfortunately for him, the bump in turn four sent him into the wall while he was leading, and he was scored in 32nd place. He now finds himself in 24th in the point standings.
Of course, thanks to his win, Berry is currently seventh in the playoff picture, and there are 16 playoff spots. But there are also still 15 races remaining on the regular season schedule, meaning that there could very well end up being more than 16 regular season race winners.
The 16 playoff spots go to the regular season champion, even if he doesn't win any races, and the 15 drivers who rank next highest in wins. Winning twice naturally locks a driver into the postseason, since no more than 13 drivers can do so in 26 races, but winning once doesn't necessarily secure anybody a playoff spot.
In the event that there end up being more playoff eligible drivers than playoff spots by the end of the regular season, the single-race winners are stacked up against one another, and the tiebreaker becomes points.
Of the seven winners so far this season, four are single-race winners. Berry is by far in the worst position among them down in 24th place; the next closest is Team Penske's Austin Cindric in 14th. Logano is ninth, and Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron continues to lead the standings.
So if there do end up being more than 16 regular season race winners, and Berry is unable to score a second win, he could very well end up in a bit of a sketchy situation, needing to out-point another driver (or possibly even multiple drivers) to secure a playoff spot. And down in 24th place, there needs to be at least a bit of urgency to start reeling off some consistent results.
Berry does not have a top 10 finish since his Las Vegas win, and his average finish is only 25.83. If more new winners continue to emerge, that might not cut it when it comes to getting into the playoffs, even with that win under his belt.
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