On one hand, Michael McDowell didn’t win a race this season, in his first season with Spire Motorsports so that was a mission unaccomplished but there is also a privilege in that pressure that motivates him.
For example, at 40-years-old, some in NASCAR would start pondering what comes after driving and that is especially true for a devout family man that has a wife and five children at home.
But no, McDowell is not thinking about retirement.
“Well, do I see that in the future,” McDowell said last weekend at Phoenix when asked during a media availability. “Not in the near future.
“For me, I have been doing this a long time but for those who have followed the sport, they know my first 10 years were a struggle where I was not in a competitive environment or enjoying myself. I was just trying to stay int the sport and stay in a seat long enough to get to where I am now.”
To his point, when making the swap from the Champ Car World Series to NASCAR in 2006, it was with teams not capable of winning races. For the longest time, his most memorable highlight was a vicious barrel roll flip at Texas Motor Speedway while driving for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2008.
There were multiple seasons where he drove start-and-parks or teams in the back half of the garage. It was a grind to get to the point where he joined Front Row Motorsports, won the Daytona 500 in 2021 and then added another win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2023.
Now, he’s at Spire Motorsports, another team where he is certainly expected to challenge for the occasional victory too.
“I'm still very excited about showing up to the race track, knowing we can run well, and challenge for wins. For me, that's what motivates me to keep going. So I don't see (retirement) in the near future but you know how this sport is -- it's just a matter of time before the next fast guy comes to replace me and it's just when is he ready and am I still performing at that point.
“This is a performance-based business and we all know that. So, I feel like I am performing well right now.”
McDowell finished 22nd in the final championship standings but also departs into the off-season wondering what could have been. He seemingly had the car to beat on the Streets of Chicago and was easily driving away from Shane Van Gisbergen until he broke a throttle cable.
He had race winning speed, and top-5s at Mexico City and Sonoma too, and either of those wins would have changed the dynamic of his season when considering an eighth at New Hampshire and a fifth at the Charlotte ROVAL too.
It just takes being perfect for McDowell driving for a Hendrick Motorsports satellite team to take the fight to the Big 3 teams of Hendrick, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske.
"We have to outwork them," McDowell said. "We have to be efficient and be creative. This car still provides me a good platform. You've seen me run up front, in the top-5 and top-10, so yes, the big teams have broken away from an execution and wins standpoint but I feel like we have speed in our cars. We just have to build chemistry and continuity to do it at a high level and I think we're getting there."
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