Michael McDowell Wins Indy To Lock Into Cup Playoffs

With one of the top road racers in NASCAR breathing down his neck, Michael McDowell stayed cool, calm, and collected.

McDowell held off Chase Elliott on a last lap charge to score the win in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield road course.

“Oh, man, this is such a dream come true,” McDowell said after climbing from his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford on the finish line.

It marks the second victory of McDowell’s series career, having won the Daytona 500 after a last lap skirmish in 2021. It comes at another major venue in the famed Brickyard.

“Yeah, it’s such a big deal. Winning the Daytona 500 was one of the coolest moments you could ever have, but going to Victory Lane without your family, that was tough. And so we cherry pick. My family comes to the races we think we can win. We thought we could win this one. Just so proud.”

The win comes as McDowell was working to stay in the points chase to make the Playoffs. The victory locks him in with just two races to the cutoff.

“You know, I thought we could point our way in, but after the car that we had yesterday in practice, I thought, man, we’ve got a good shot at winning if we could just get track position and maintain it,” McDowell said. “Just I can’t believe it, so thankful.”

It’s the first win of the season for the underfunded Front Row Motorsports, which just this week announced McDowell was staying with the team.

“We had the fastest car. We executed, and we did what we needed to do,” McDowell said. “Just so thankful, so thankful to still be grinding it out in the Cup Series. To put on a performance like that, I don’t know if it was dominant, but it felt pretty dominant to me.”

After the only caution of the race flew on lap two, Daniel Suarez held the lead after a strong jump from the pole. McDowell flexed his muscles early, wrestling the lead away from Suarez on lap six as the duo raced through turns 12 and 13. McDowell would go on to score the segment win before hitting pit road for a green flag pit stop.

He would regain the lead on lap 36 as pit stops finally cycled through after Denny Hamlin won the second segment by running long on strategy. Behind him, Elliott and Suarez battled for position.

All three hit pit road for the final round of pit stops on lap 50, with McDowell’s crew holding the measure over Elliott. Meanwhile, Suarez’s team had a long pit stop that delayed him exiting the pits.

McDowell held the lead in what became a non-stop race, with the only caution coming on lap two. As McDowell and Elliott raced through lapped traffic, McDowell was able to pull out to almost a four second advantage at one point. On the last circuit around the 2.439 mile, 14-turn raceway, Elliott chopped the lead to less than half a second.

But with the checkered flag in the air, McDowell held the measure over Elliott as he flashed across the yard of bricks at the finish line for the win.

“I was really trying to pace myself,” McDowell said. “I figured there would be a late race caution, and I didn’t want to burn my stuff up. I was just trying to maintain that gap. Then when I got into traffic, (Elliott) started closing, I had to push it, but I just can’t believe it.”

For Elliott, it was another miss on a winless season that has the Dawsonville, Georgia native needing a win in the next two races to be able to make the Playoffs.

“Just needed just a little bit more and came up a bit short,” Elliott said. “But congrats to Michael, man. He did a good job. Ran a great race and stayed mistake free, and that’s what you’ve got to do to win.”

Suarez was as fast as McDowell and Elliott, but a pit road miscue put a gap between him and the leaders. He was able to close over the final laps, but had to settle for a third place finish in the end.

“We win and we lose as a team, and that’s all I can say,” Suarez said. “The guys brought a very fast race car. I felt that maybe we were one adjustment behind in the first run with the back of the car, but then we made it a little bit better. But I felt like I was always one step behind the 9 (Elliott) and the 34 (McDowell), and then at the end, I felt that when my car came alive again, we had that issue.

“Just a little bit heartbreaking, but that’s part of the sport.”

Tyler Reddick finished in fourth, with Alex Bowman in fifth.

Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex, Jr., Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, and Shane Van Gisbergen rounded out the top 10.

In a race noted for its international appeal, with several road race aces making starts, it was again Australian V8 champion Van Gisbergen, who won earlier this year on the Chicago Street Course, who was the class of the field.

“It’s been an amazing week,” said Van Gisbergen. “I can’t thank Justin Marks and the Trackhouse team enough for giving me this opportunity. I learned a lot in the (NASCAR Craftsman) Truck on Friday night, and to get to come here and race again. Although a top 10 is awesome, expectations are high because of the last race. I just have to realize a top 10 is still pretty good.”

Of the other international drivers in the field, Australian V8 ace Brodie Kostecki finished 22nd, with sports car ace Mike Rockenfeller in 24th, Formula 1 champion Jenson Button in 28th, sports car veteran Andy Lally of Dacula, Georgia in 30th, and 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Kamui Kabayashi in 33rd

With two races left to go before the cutoff for the Playoffs, McDowell is now among the 13 drivers locked in. With a 23rd place finish on Sunday, Kevin Harvick sits 14th, 145 points above the cutoff, followed by 20th place finisher Brad Keselowski, who is 143 points to the good. With two races left, both appear to have a healthy margin to make the cut.

In the danger zone now is 16th place Bubba Wallace. After finishing in 18th on Sunday, Wallace sits 28 points ahead of Suarez, 49 points ahead of Ty Gibbs, and 80 points ahead of Elliott and Alex Bowman. With Elliott, Suarez, and Gibbs being noted for their road race prowess going into next weekend’s race at Watkins Glen International, Wallace will have to put together a strong run on the historic road course next Sunday.

NASCAR Cup Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, IN
Verizon 200 – August 13, 2023

1. (4) Michael McDowell, Ford, 82.
2. (3) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 82.
3. (1) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet, 82.
4. (2) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 82.
5. (9) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 82.
6. (13) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 82.
7. (12) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 82.
8. (6) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 82.
9. (7) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 82.
10. (8) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 82.
11. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 82.
12. (10) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 82.
13. (16) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 82.
14. (39) William Byron, Chevrolet, 82.
15. (20) Austin Cindric, Ford, 82.
16. (27) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 82.
17. (21) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 82.
18. (19) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 82.
19. (25) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 82.
20. (22) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 82.
21. (24) Harrison Burton, Ford, 82.
22. (11) Brodie Kostecki, Chevrolet, 82.
23. (38) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 81.
24. (37) Mike Rockenfeller, Chevrolet, 81.
25. (34) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 81.
26. (26) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 81.
27. (35) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 81.
28. (31) Jenson Button, Ford, 81.
29. (14) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 81.
30. (29) Andy Lally, Ford, 81.
31. (30) Ryan Preece, Ford, 81.
32. (32) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 81.
33. (28) Kamui Kobayashi(i), Toyota, 81.
34. (18) Joey Logano, Ford, 81.
35. (36) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 81.
36. (5) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 80.
37. (23) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 80.
38. (15) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 80.
39. (33) Aric Almirola, Ford, 79.

Average Speed: 92.319 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 9 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.937 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 1 for 3 laps.

Lead Changes: 10 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: D. Suarez 1-5;M. McDowell 6-16;C. Elliott 17;C. Bell 18-26;A. Dillon 27;D. Hamlin 28-35;M. McDowell 36-48;D. Suárez 49;*. Van Gisbergen(i) 50;C. Bell 51-52;M. McDowell 53-82.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Michael McDowell 3 times for 54 laps; Christopher Bell 2 times for 11 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 8 laps; Daniel Suárez 2 times for 6 laps; Austin Dillon 1 time for 1 lap; Chase Elliott 1 time for 1 lap; * Shane Van Gisbergen(i) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 34,99,9,45,5,8,20,48,91,19

Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,34,99,6,9,8,45,48,14,5

Playoff Standings: 1. William Byron – 726 (4 Wins); 2. Martin Truex, Jr. – 830 (3 Wins); 3. Kyle Busch – 660 (3 Wins); 4. Denny Hamlin – 770 (2 Wins); 5. Kyle Larson – 698 (2 Wins); 6. Chris Buescher – 665 (2 Wins); 7. Christopher Bell – 709 (1 Win); 8. Ross Chastain – 676 (1 Win); 9. Ryan Blaney – 666 (1 Win); 10. Tyler Reddick – 653 (1 Win); 11. Joey Logano – 639 (1 Win); 12. Michael McDowell – 542 (1 Win); 13. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 542 (1 Win); 14. Kevin Harvick -677; 15. Brad Keselowski – 675; 16. Bubba Wallace – 560.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series