June 11, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

New car offers new hope, opportunity for Michael McDowell and Front Row Motorsports

Michael McDowell has always been a glass-half-full kind of guy.

The Bondurant-driving-instructor-turned-NASCAR-Cup-driver has always relied on his deep faith to survive the vagaries of stock car racing.

At 37, McDowell has never driven for an elite organization. Since 2018, he has been able to build a home at Bob Jenkins’ Front Row Motorsports. Last year, in his 358th Cup start, McDowell won the Daytona 500.

On Sunday, at World Wide Technology Raceway, McDowell led a career-best 34 laps in a race before finishing 18th.

“Being out front was awesome,” McDowell said. “We had a decent car today. We had a fast car. It was a great day, but at the end, the wheels kind of fell off a little bit and that's always disheartening, but the bright side is we’ve had some really good runs the last six weeks—four top 10s in the last seven races. Minus the last two restarts there, I felt like we had a good car and a good shot at another top five or top 10.

“Just didn't work out, but proud of the speed that we have and the opportunity we had.”

Much of the “opportunity” stems from NASCAR introducing a new car this year. The vehicle, originally introduced as the Next Gen car, has become a great equalizer for many teams in the Cup Series—including McDowell’s. Under the direction of new crew chief Blake Harris, McDowell has already posted five top 10 finishes in the first 15 races matching his total for last season.

“Looking at our performance and our stats, we have as many top tens this year than we’ve ever had and we're only halfway through the season,” McDowell said. “So, we've closed the gap to the leaders. We've put ourselves in a much more competitive state and the Next Gen cars helped us do that.

“We've known all along that we have great people at Front Row. We were behind with that old car because we didn't have machine shops and 3D printers and all the things that make all the parts and pieces. Now we have the same parts and pieces. It's just about putting them in the right place and executing and we're getting close to doing that.”

Three new winners--Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain--visited Victory Lane in the first six races in 2022. The first 13 races produced 11 different winners. Last Sunday, Joey Logano won the inaugural Enjoy Illinois 300 followed by fellow winners and former champions Kyle and Kurt Busch.

But 100 laps into the race, nine of the drivers then running in the top 10 had yet to win a race this year and McDowell was leading the pack in the No. 34 WISE-EV Ford. He was hoping to remain at the point and win Stage 2 but an ill-timed caution ended his run.

“I wish that the stage would have stayed green there and we could have won a stage, but it was fun,” McDowell said. “These races ebb and flow so much, but it has been a good year. It’s been a good season. It was a great day, but definitely disappointed with the finish, so we’ll continue to build on it.

“We'll keep coming back with fast cars. Sonoma should be really good for us. We’ll keep digging.”