McDowell Dominates at the Brickyard, Locks Himself Into NASCAR’s Playoffs

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Michael McDowell’s trophy collection may not be big, but, man, it’s impressive.

The winner of the 2021 Daytona 500 added a second trophy to his collection, Sunday, winning the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.

In dominating Sunday’s race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, McDowell led three times for a career high total of 54 laps. With the win, the Front Row Motorsports driver locked himself into Cup Series playoffs with two races remaining in the regular season.

McDowell came into the weekend needing points, but wound up winning the race.

“It was a total team effort. Our car was so fast. I just knew I had to execute and not make any mistakes. We lost the lead there in that first cycle but got it back on the second. We did everything we needed to do to have a fast Horizon Hobby Ford Mustang. So thankful, man. Such a grind – to finally be in victory lane. To do it at Indy, on a road course – it’s so special.”

McDowell took the lead for the third and final time on lap 53 of the 85-lap contest, holding off Chase Elliott by 0.937 at the checkered flag.

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For Elliott, it was a missed opportunity to lock himself into the playoffs.

“We just needed to be a little better through the back-half of the race, and get off of (turn) 14 a little better to have myself in a better spot getting into Turn One. Just really appreciate the effort.

“Our NAPA Chevy was really good, we just needed a little bit more. We came up just a bit short, but congrats to Michael – man, he did a good job, ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you have to do.”

While some may characterize McDowell’s win was a Cinderella win, Front Row Motorsports GM Jerry Freeze says it was anything but.

“We rolled off the truck, we were the fastest car here in practice, fastest in first-round qualifying, qualified fourth, and then Michael just dominated the race today. Michael did a stellar job, but he needed a stellar race car, and (crew chief) Travis (Peterson) gave it to him.

“To basically dominate the weekend is hardly a Cinderella story. We’ve been fortunate, this is the fourth Cup win that Front Row Motorsports has had, and I think you could say that the first three, circumstances kind of played their way into being in the position to get the checkered flag at the end, but this one was just a real butt kicking, and so I’m especially proud of this win.”

For McDowell, the butt kicking he put on the field Sunday at Indy was an indication of how strong he feels the team actually is.

“It’s one thing if you’re restarting sixth here on a green-white-checkered, you fire it in there and you steal a win. That’s not what we did today.

“What we did today is we had the fastest car and we won. I think it says a lot for our race team and what we have been able to do and what we’ve been able to build on.

“This Next-Gen car has really helped us on the road courses, and last year we were close. We weren’t a race winning car, but I felt like we were a top 3 to 5 car, and we’ve just built on that and built on that and built on that.

“But yesterday was just different. When I unloaded yesterday, I felt like, yeah, we’re going to be contenders.

“If you just look at practice, we were the fastest in practice, fastest five lap, fastest ten lap, fastest average, and I woke up this morning nervous. I really did. I don’t normally wake up nervous. I was anxious, feeling like, I think I have a race-winning car here, and I’ve just got to go do my job and not look like an idiot.”

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When McDowell qualified for the playoffs in 2021 with his Daytona win, it was one thing. But running well all season and being in the playoff picture heading into the weekend made his win at Indy and clinching a playoff spot all the more impressive for McDowell.

“A hundred percent, yes. Pointing our way in would be and we’ll still look at it that way if we end up being able — we’re in, right, but we’re going to look at the points because pointing our way in was something we took a lot of pride in, if we could do that as a team, because it shows how consistent you are and it shows your performance.

“But it’s no secret that this year is unique because you’ve had drivers that haven’t run all the races, and so we’re not sitting here saying, oh, man, look at us. We’re saying, this is our shot, because of those circumstances. Because some of the top guys haven’t won yet, and some of those guys missed races, it’s opened up the window for us to have a shot.

“Now, doing what we did today, I feel like is what we needed to do because I felt like no matter what, there’s going to be somebody that wins from behind there, and I’m glad that that somebody was us. We were below the cut line and we won, and now we’re that person.

“Yeah, I haven’t let the Playoffs set in yet because winning here has been so cool. I think tomorrow or Tuesday when we think about Watkins Glen and we think about how we don’t have to just crush every element, that we can just go there and go for the win and have fun, which I think we can do, it’s going to be a big relief.

“But right now I’m not feeling that — I haven’t got to the Playoffs yet. I’m just enjoying today.”

Relieved and excited to be in locked into the playoffs with two races remaining in the regular season, McDowell admits the the last few weeks have been stressful.

“Yeah, stressful for sure.

“The last two weeks have been stressful, but even leaving Michigan because a lot of those guys had bad days, when we were only down 3, I thought, well, this is still great because we’ve got three great tracks coming up that I feel like we’ll be able to out-point the guys that we’re racing.

“But then when Daniel (Suarez) put it on pole yesterday, I was like, oh, man. And Ty (Gibbs) was fast in practice, and that’s what I anticipated. I anticipated it was going to be a dogfight between all of us if we had to do it via points.

“So I’m glad that we don’t. This definitely relieves some pressure going into the next couple weeks.”

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Celebrating his Indy win with his family was special for McDowell. When he won at Daytona, they weren’t able to be there because of COVID restrictions. But McDowell told his family there would be other wins - something he truly believed would happen.

Sunday, it did.

“I believed in all my heart that there’s going to be way more. I always have. I know it sounds crazy. Even when I was start-and-parking, I’m like, there’s going to be a day I’m going to win races and win championships, I know it. I feel it.

“My mindset hasn’t changed from that. It’s just been a rough road. It’s been tough. I mean, it just is. I won’t allow myself to think anything else because why would I be here. It’s just, when you’ve dedicated your entire life to something, to suck at it is not an option, and it’s just taken me more years than I’ve wanted to not suck at it.”

As McDowell travels home from Indy with his family in tow, he’ll also be bringing home a special trophy. While he only has two from his Cup Series career, McDowell takes pride in that they are two of the most desirable.

“Those are pretty good ones to have and it doesn’t get much better than winning at Daytona and winning at Indianapolis. I don’t have a lot of them, but I have the right ones and, yeah, it’s neat, it’s special. You know, every win is special, but there are certain places that just have that historical neatness to it and this is definitely one of those.”