Dalton Cook explained that he felt backed into a corner on whether he should come in and change a tire that he felt was going flat or to try and stay out and and secure at the very least a prime starting spot for a B-Main.
On a restart in Heat 4 with 2 laps left, Cook backed up his entry into the corner and got clobbered in the left rear by McDowell, who attempted to avoid him. The two got connected as they spun sideways and McDowell’s rear hit hard into the outside wall. He then got clipped in the left front by Justin Haley.
💥 A Heat Race #4 crash may have just ended Dale McDowell’s World 100 streak!#World100 🌍 | September 12 | Live on FloRacing 📺 pic.twitter.com/QOQoIDuxDO
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) September 13, 2026
McDowell shared his perspective on the wreck with FloRacing’s Mike Norris, “It all starts early. The inverts, it gets the guys that inverted real antsy so the starts are wild because the way the race track is, there’s not as much time difference between the inversions now. So the car’s starting up front are really, really close. So everybody just goes hard.”
“Got in the wall up there earlier, and then we restarted there and he had a left front flat. That may be something we have to look at as a safety feature or safety precaution because you can do that and sometimes we see people do it on a short track, but at a place like this it was just dangerous.”
“Thankfully, the Good Lord was with us, nobody got hurt in that thing. All’s good. Car’s bent up a little bit. It’s a sad day, but I’m a race fan and, man, I’m going to watch this thing and take it all in,” he said.
🎙️ Hear from @DaleMcDowell17m as his streak of consecutive World 100 A-main starts comes to an end at 18.#World100 🌍 | September 12 | Live on FloRacing 📺 pic.twitter.com/CTzAbVcJUP
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) September 13, 2026
Cook informed StockCarReport.com that he believed he made contact racing with Kyle Bronson that likely cut his tire. He went on to share his perspective on the wreck as well as decision-making process to stay out with the flat telling StockCarReport.com, “The way the circumstances is, I actually got to hear Dale, and he’s really right. The problem is this format don’t let you just automatically go to a B-Main and just try, do what you can. It’s like you got to finish, I think, 11th in order to get to the B-Main.”
“And I’m like weighing it out,” he continued. “I’m like, ‘Well, you know, I got two laps left. I’ll probably get passed. I might struggle.’ So I’m just weighing, ‘Like, dude, I got to try to give myself a shot. I’m pretty good. Car is pretty good. We’re still in the game.’ It’s $5 grand to make the show. I know I’m not going to be out there fighting to win the race. I know where I’m at on the pecking order, but it’s like we had a legitimate shot to make the show. And it cost a lot of money to get up here and do this. And I’m like I can’t just not give it all I got to maybe try to get it.”
“If I had pitted and came in and got a tire, there really wasn’t much of an opportunity that I would even have got that B-Main shot,” Cook elaborated. “So it’s like I’m sitting fourth. I can give up tons of spots and ride around like a three-legged dog. I thought I could make that happen. It just didn’t happen.”
Speaking specifically to the incident, Cook relayed, “Maybe me backing the corner just a smidge if that’s what put Dale closer on me. It’s not his fault whatsoever. And I really hate to be the guy that is pretty responsible for Dale being knocked out. And I fully understand that and he’s a super great guy and I hope he can do it again.”
“Unfortunately, man, it got Dale and that sucks,” he reiterated. “I’m cool with what happened here, but I hate I got that guy. That’s not the guy I want to get in that situation.”
“Eldora, why it’s so good is because there a lot of good highs and a lot of bad lows. And these are going to be one of them lows I got to accept and marinate on it. And just put a smile on and just look at the good things of what I learned ’cause I plan on coming back, I plan on being stronger, I plan on everything just being good. Just take it in stride and just build and don’t let it be that bad. It’s all good in the hood. I can’t even be mad about it.”
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