McDowell hopes Daytona 500 brings more success to team
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael McDowell was best known for years as the guy who barrel-rolled eight times at Texas while trying to qualify for just the second race of his Cup Series career.
He’d driven through the remnants of an oil spill when McDowell’s car made a hard right turn into the wall. The car rebounded, flipped on its roof and went airborne for eight rolls before the flaming wreckage finally came to a stop on its wheels.
“It’s just one of those things that happened,” McDowell said. “But you definitely hope that people would know you for something better than that.”
It took 13 years for him to change the narrative: McDowell is now a Daytona 500 champion.
The journeyman earned the first win of his career – he was 0-357 before Daytona – by zipping past two crashing cars on the final lap. McDowell led for less than a mile in the wee hours Monday morning but it was all he needed to validate a career spent driving inferior cars.
Daytona is unlike any race on NASCAR’s schedule in that underdogs have
last season and added some of the game’s best pitchers in Yu Darvish and Blake Snell during the offseason.
As for the Diamondbacks? Well, it’s basically the status quo.
It was a quiet offseason for Arizona, which didn’t make any notable moves until the past few weeks. They recently added a pair of veterans – relief pitcher Joakim Soria and infielder Asdrubal Cabrera – in an effort to add depth.
But the franchise is expecting the vast majority of the improvement to come from within.
The Diamondbacks are hoping left-hander Madison
Bumgarner can turn into the top-of-the-rotation starter they wanted him to be when he signed an $85 million, five-year deal before last season. The fourtime All-Star had the worst year of his career in 2020, finishing with a 1-4 record and 6.48 ERA.
“I don’t feel like I necessarily have anything to prove,” Bumgarner said Wednesday. “But I’m competitive. I want to win – that’s it. I’m not trying to sugarcoat it or do anything else. I’m not worried about what you guys write about, whether it’s good or bad. I just want to win.”
Bumgarner was far from the D-backs’ only disappointing player last season. Catcher Carson Kelly, infielder Eduardo Escobar
and right-handed starter Luke Weaver all struggled. Ketel Marte had just two homers after hitting a career-high 32 in 2019.
The news isn’t all bad: Right-hander Zac Gallen has the look of a future ace after finishing with a 2.75 ERA in 12 starts last season. There’s also a group of promising young position players, including Daulton Varsho, Andy Young and Pavin Smith.
It’s Lovullo’s job to put it all together. He’s eager to get started.
“This is professional sports – you need to walk into this building motivated, period,” Lovullo said. “But I’ve got a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I always do, but a little bit more so this year.”