McDowell: Daytona 500 win worth wait
Shortly after the clock struck midnight Sunday, one of NASCAR’s favorite Cinderella drivers permanently ditched the pumpkin and the mice for a gilded, four-wheel carriage that narrowly escaped the fiery flames of destruction and finally brought him eternal joy.
In his 358th career race, Glendale’s Michael McDowell won his very first Cup Series event — and it just happened to be the 2021 Daytona 500.
It’s only proof that If you wait long enough — and McDowell had waited 14 long years — fairy-tale endings do come true.
“Yeah, I mean just hearing you say that, I still can’t believe it,” McDowell said Tuesday during a phone interview with The Republic. “Honestly, that’s been my goal — to win a Cup race — and
“I never lost hope. I knew that one day I’d win a race. Like I said, I never thought it would be the Daytona 500, but you just can’t lose hope.” Michael McDowell NASCAR Cup Series driver from Glendale
I didn’t care where it would be at. To be in this sport for 14 years and to not have won a race, that was my big item on the checklist.
“But to get your first win at the Daytona 500, the Great American Race, the biggest stage, to be a Daytona 500 champion, I never would have thought that in a million years.”
Last May, when the 2020 NASCAR season finally got under way in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, McDowell told The Republic that he knew it in his heart the checkered flag was within reach. Upon joining Front Row Motorsports in 2018, he finally had the resources and the right team to give him an honest opportunity.
He responded with seven top-10 finishes, including a career-high four of them last year. And in the first official race of 2021, he won the biggest and baddest of them all, steering his No. 34 Love’s Ford Mustang through a carnage of a wreck and into the lead on the very last lap just ahead of the yellow caution flag.
Climbing out of the side of his car and almost uncontrollably slapping his hands on the roof in wild celebration wasn’t just a moment of glory for McDowell. It was vindication for his patience, professionalism and perseverance. It way payback for the “grind.”
“I think you said it just perfect,” McDowell said. “In those early years when I was driving cars that weren’t competitive and I needed a tetanus shot to drive, I did it with the hopes of knowing that one day I’d get an opportunity and it’s just slowly been progressing, opportunities have been getting better and better.
“When I got to Front Row Motorsports, that was my best opportunity and us, as an organization like you said the last three years, we just keep getting better and we keep getting faster. We keep having better results, we’re hiring better people and we’re getting more out of our team and our equipment. So, I never lost hope. I knew that one day I’d win a race. Like I said, I never thought it would be the Daytona 500, but you just can’t lose hope.
“It took me 14 years, but if it took me 14 more I’d still do it.”
McDowell, 36, might have never won a Cup race before Sunday, but he’s had pretty good results over the years at Daytona, posting half of his career 14 top-10 finishes there.
And to think, when McDowell joined the Cup Series circuit in 2008, he wasn’t much of a fan of superspeedway racing. He always preferred the shorter tracks and the road courses.
“It was just tough for me to grasp the concept of superspeedway racing and so I struggled, and I didn’t enjoy it,” he said. “But I started to realize just by watching video and studying it, that the same group of guys get to the end and have a shot at winning are the same guys. People call it luck and they’re like, ‘Anybody can win,’ but that’s not what happens.
“It’s always the same guys. That’s why you’ve seen Denny Hamlin win so many times and why you’ve seen Joey Logano win so many times and always be up front and Brad Keselowski and those guys that are up front every time. I just started to study them and what they did and how did they get in that position and how did they approach it.”
McDowell kept learning throughout the process, made the necessary adjustments and never stopped trusting his data and “it just kind of all fell together,” he said.
So did the end of Sunday’s rain-delayed race, right after Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski made contact and spun out, causing a massive wreck around McDowell. He was running third behind the two fellow Ford drivers when the melee struck.
“Brad spun to the right, Joey spun to the left and the seas parted and I drove right through the middle of it,” McDowell said. “So much of it was just instincts. You’re not really processing what happened, you’re just going through the hole. I had to put a block on Chase Elliott because he was coming with a big run and then the caution came out and it was over.”
Entering Year No. 14, it’s only just the beginning for McDowell. As much as he cherished his first appearance in Victory Lane, he said the hundreds of genuine congratulations he received from his peers, friends and rivals alike have made him that much hungrier for more checkered flags.
It will both motivate him and touch him for the rest of his life.
“Yeah, I think that probably means the most,” he said. “Trophies and rings and watches are awesome and they’re neat but having meaningful relationships with people and having respect and trust is what life’s all about. … It means a lot.”
Having his name permanently etched onto the Harley J. Earl Trophy alongside some of the greatest names in racing history also holds a special place in McDowell’s heart.
“It’s humbling,” he said. “To be on the same trophy with so many greats — the Pettys and Andrettis and Earnhardts. Man, the list just goes on and on. I can’t even believe my name would be in the conversation, so it’s humbling.”
Winning won’t change McDowell. He said he’ll simply dive back into the grind, ready himself for this Sunday’s road race at Daytona and go about his business like normal.
There will be a special homecoming, though, when he returns home for NASCAR’s March 14 race at Phoenix Raceway.
“I can’t wait to get to Arizona and celebrate with my family and my dad and brother and all of our family,” he said. “That will be a special moment, for sure. But the next couple, three weeks leading up to that, it’s just back to business.
“But Phoenix is going to be awesome. The fans there are so great. The support I’ve had over the years has been awesome and to finally get something for everyone to cheer about is going to be fun.”