10 minute read
Michael McDowell’s Unlikely Road
BY JARED TURNER
• Michael McDowell struck the jackpot at Daytona, winning the Daytona 500. It was his first win in 358 races.
More than a decade ago when he was serving as the motor coach driver for Trevor Bayne, Michael McDowell didn’t fit the profile of someone who most people expected to ever end up in a NASCAR Cup Series Victory
Lane.
Struggling to get his own racing career off the ground, McDowell bounced around from underfunded, back-marker team to underfunded, back-marker team and even had to compete as a start-and-park driver for several agonizing seasons.
Even once McDowell finally entered into a modestly better situation, driving full time for the single-car Leavine Family Racing organization, pretty much no one harbored any grand illusions of McDowell winning a NASCAR Cup Series race. And that even included his wife, Jami.
“She was just like, ‘Man, I don’t think it’s in the cards,’” McDowell said.
Then came Feb. 14, 2021. A day that changed everything. A that day McDowell will remember forever. Making his 358th start in NASCAR’s top division, McDowell finally won a race – and it just so happened to be the biggest race of all, the Daytona 500.
Turns out McDowell had believed for many years that he would eventually prevail at NASCAR’s highest level, even if no one else shared his line of thinking.
“Just for whatever reason, I’m always like, ‘It’s going to happen. I just know it is,’” McDowell said after his victory in the 63rd annual Daytona 500. “I don’t know why I’ve had that feeling. But I also feel like if I don’t come to the race track thinking like that, then why am I coming to the race track?”
McDowell has endured plenty of dark days as a driver, though. After all, it took him 10 years in the NASCAR Cup Series just to be able to run a full season.
“I wouldn’t say like there were super lows where I was eating Top Ramen noodles and scraping to stay alive, but when you show up to the race track and you know that you’re just in the way, taking up space, it’s hard to do that year after year and week after week,” McDowell said. “So, you’ve got to have a bigger purpose than that. For me, it was knowing that I would get an opportunity eventually.”
McDowell’s best opportunity to date came in 2018 when team owner Bob Jenkins handed him the keys to the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports car. Despite being hardly a powerhouse compared with the sport’s top teams, Front Row has offered McDowell more stability than his previous assignments. Even though Front Row can’t compete on a consistent basis with the likes of Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Team Penske, McDowell has a proven, veteran crew chief in Drew Blickensderfer and a team with solid primary sponsorship from Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores.
“It’s been a tough road for me,” McDowell said. “I’ve had to spend a lot of years grinding it out, but I finally have felt like these last four years have been more competitive and produced greater opportunities with Front Row and Bob Jenkins.
“Daytona has been so good to us that we’ve been in the top 10, we’ve been in the top five, we’ve been close. The last lap, there’s been times where I’ve made the wrong choice, wrong lane and pushed the wrong guy, and it’s just so hard to get in position and to do it.”
McDowell was justifiably optimistic heading into this year’s Daytona 500. In 19 previous pointspaying starts at Daytona International Speedway, he had recorded six top-10 finishes – including a pair of top-five results, the most recent of which was a fifth-place finish in the 2019 running of The Great American Race.
Although McDowell may not have been on hardly anyone’s shortlist of favorites to win this year’s Daytona 500, the 36-year-old Glendale, Arizona, native felt upbeat when race morning arrived.
“I know it’s going to sound crazy, but I always think I’m going to win this race,” McDowell later said.
McDowell’s positive attitude carries over to life in general and is largely influenced by his Christian faith, which has been a source of strength for him for a long time, including during his leanest and most frustrating years in NASCAR.
“God just has a plan for each of us, and I just never felt like it was time for me to stop and it was time for me to quit,” said McDowell, who made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2008 with now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing. “I just always felt like there’s a win
on the horizon, and you’ve just got to keep grinding it out.”
Like the biblical account of Moses parting the Red Sea, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski collided and spun in opposite directions while running 1-2 entering Turn 3 on the final lap of February’s Daytona 500. That left just enough of an opening for McDowell – who had been running third behind the two Team Penske teammates – to come through the wreckage unscathed.
“The hole happened on its own,” McDowell said. “I can’t even tell you what happened. Brad and I pulled down with a run and, next thing you know, Brad was turning right, Joey was turning left and I went right through the middle of it.”
McDowell then managed to stay just ahead of second-place Chase Elliott when NASCAR turned on the caution lights, freezing the field and effectively ending the race. The only lap McDowell led all day was the final one.
Almost as quick as McDowell went from third to first were the congratulations that poured in after the race from his fellow competitors.
“He’s a great guy, a great person, a good leader in life and has helped me a lot in my life, so it’s very cool to see him win the Daytona 500,” Logano said.
Don’t think for a moment that McDowell’s Daytona 500 victory – surprising as it might have been to many – was a fluke, however. Along with being a consistent contender at Daytona over the last several years, McDowell has also demonstrated a consistent resolve to up his game.
Blickensderfer, who’s been McDowell’s crew chief the past two-and-a-half years, has witnessed McDowell’s work ethic on many occasions, including at times during the week when McDowell has left his wife and four children to go jump in a racing simulator for a couple of hours in preparation for an upcoming event.
“He’s a guy that is willing to do whatever it takes,” Blickensderfer said. “He goes and drops everything and does that, because he knows that’s what he needs to do to be a better race car driver. To have that drive and that work ethic, that’s a good role model for not only myself and the rest of the guys on the team but also the young guys we bring in at Front Row. … They can see how hard this guy, who’s a veteran, works at his craft. That’s the thing about Michael that really stands out to me.”
McDowell’s 357 winless starts were the secondmost in NASCAR Cup Series history by a driver before his first victory. Only McDowell’s former team owner, Michael Waltrip, had gone winless more times before finally breaking through, which he also did in the Daytona 500.
So, what’s McDowell’s biggest takeaway from his bumpy and unlikely road to becoming a Daytona 500 winner?
“Don’t give up,” he said. “I think that’s what it’s all about is just not giving up, and to just keep fighting hard. I think that that’s not just the moral of my NASCAR journey, but that’s the moral of everyday life.
“That’s the moral of our race team, and we just keep fighting hard. You just never know what’s possible.”
IT’S SINKING IN: Michael McDowell Relives Daytona 500 Win
BY JOSEPH WOLKIN
Michael McDowell is one of the kindest people in the NASCAR industry. He’s welcoming, fun to be around and, most of all, he cares about others. Finally, one of the most genuine racers in the sport is a NASCAR Cup Series race winner.
McDowell took the checkered flag in the Daytona 500 for Front Row Motorsports, earning his first NASCAR Cup Series triumph in his 358th start.
Now, the driver of the No. 34 Ford Mustang is in the playoffs for the first time. And he believes that with Front Row’s hard work, he can perform well throughout the season.
NASCAR Pole Position sat down with McDowell on Thursday morning following the victory to get his thoughts on his remarkable performance.
WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THE BACKSTRETCH COMING TO THE CHECKERED FLAG?
Coming to the white flag, I felt like I was in a really good position. We were in third behind our Ford teammates. We were lined up, and I felt like I was in a good spot, knowing Brad Keselowski would, obviously, try to make a pass for the lead.
I knew Joey Logano would challenge and put on a block. I felt like it would create an opportunity, and it didn’t work out exactly like I thought. Brad got a good run coming down the back straightaway, and then they made contact. They spun, and I went right through the middle.
It was a wild finish to an amazing race. To win my first race, do it at Daytona and to be the Daytona 500 champion is unbelievable.
WERE YOU WORRIED NASCAR WOULD NAME CHASE ELLIOTT THE WINNER?
Yeah, absolutely. I felt like I was ahead of him the whole time. I really did feel like we were ahead. Then, you start having those doubts, like, “Oh man, what if we didn’t win?”
It was a long 60 or 90 seconds waiting for NASCAR to give us the official word of who won. When they finally did, it was a lot of relief. I was overwhelmed with excitement and joy. It’s so special and hard to describe.
IS IT SURREAL TO KNOW YOU’RE A DAYTONA 500 WINNER?
It is amazing. There are elements of it that have sunk in. I know it’s legitimate and real, but the overall magnitude hasn’t sunk in. It’s a whirlwind media tour, and it’s a bit of a distraction from taking it all in. It’s been really fun and enjoyable to relive the moment. I’m experiencing it over and over again.
WHAT’S BEEN THE CRAZIEST PART OF YOUR WEEK?
There have been a lot of crazy parts to it, but the most meaningful part has been the response from the NASCAR community, competitors and all of the people who I’ve worked with over the years. People are legitimately excited and happy for me. It means a lot, and I’ve had incredible texts and phone calls from legends in our sport. It’s been really special.
WHAT DIFFERENTIATES FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS FROM OTHER TEAMS FOR WHICH YOU HAVE DRIVEN?
There are a lot of things that have happened over the last three years that have put us in this situation. Front Row has a great family atmosphere. We’re a small team – there’s no doubt about it. We can make adjustments, changes and move things around. We’ve been able to put great people in great positions to improve our team.
Drew Blickensderfer is a big part of that. He’s done a great job of leading this (No.) 34 crew. Our relationship is very unique. Drew and I both are very intense. We want it and also can fight, disagree and push each other. When we make a mistake, we can admit it to each other and no one is getting offended. We keep grinding. He believes in me, and I believe in him.
