Michael McDowell: Karting Champion Who Won the 2021 Daytona 500

McDowell's route to NASCAR was unusual. He started in karts, moved through Formula Renault, Star Mazda and Champ Car, and spent years in sports cars before his first Cup season in 2008. Much of his Cup career came with smaller teams, often as a start-and-park driver, until a long run at Front Row Motorsports produced his first Cup win in the 2021 Daytona 500.

Born on December 21, 1984, he is a native of Glendale, Arizona. Outside the car he co-owns the Trackhouse Motorplex karting facility with Justin Marks, north of Charlotte.

How did McDowell start in motorsport?

McDowell started racing BMX bicycles at three and moved into karting at eight. After ten years in karts he won the World Karting Association championship and then back-to-back International Kart Federation titles, with 18 consecutive feature wins along the way.

His mother, father and older brother Billy were all avid race fans who backed each step of his early career. Karting was the foundation for a career that would eventually include open-wheel cars, sports cars and finally stock cars.

His open-wheel career began in 2002, when he joined World Speed Motorsports in Formula Renault. He won at Infineon Raceway, Las Vegas and Firebird in his rookie season. He moved to the Star Mazda Series in 2003 and finished runner-up after wins at Sebring and Road America. A seven-win season in 2004 took him to the Star Mazda championship.

Champ Car came briefly. Rocketsports signed him for the races at Surfer's Paradise and Mexico City, but McDowell chose to move on in 2005 and switch to the Grand-Am Cup Series. That decision marked the start of his sports car years.

A karting champion who spent years with small Cup teams before winning the Daytona 500 for Front Row in 2021.

What did McDowell achieve in sports cars?

McDowell met businessman Rob Finlay while teaching at the Bob Bondurant School, and the two formed a partnership that took him into sports cars. In 2005 he drove a BMW-powered Riley in the Rolex Sports Car Series with Memo Gidley, finishing sixth overall and taking the team's first win at Mexico City.

That same year he became the youngest driver to stand on the podium of a Grand-Am race, at Barber Motorsports Park. He was also the first driver since Mario Andretti to race in an open-wheel event and a sports car event on the same weekend.

He stayed with Finlay for 2006. The pairing finished fourth in points without a win in the Grand-Am Cup, although McDowell drove a Ford Mustang for Finlay to victory at Barber that season. In 2012 he joined Michael Shank Racing for the 24 Hours of Daytona with Jorge Goncalvez, Felipe Nasr and Gustavo Yacaman, and the four drivers finished third.

How did McDowell move into stock cars?

McDowell began stock car racing in ARCA, driving five races in 2006 for Eddie Sharp's team. In 2007 he ran the full ARCA Re/Max schedule, won Rookie of the Year, finished second in points and scored nine poles, including his first stock car win at Kentucky Speedway.

His 2006 starts were encouraging. He finished 34th at Milwaukee, then sixth at Salem, fifth at Talladega and fourth at Iowa. Those results were a sign that the open-wheel and sports car background could translate to oval racing with the right equipment.

The 2007 season brought more wins, at Pocono, Chicagoland and the Toledo finale. At Toledo Speedway his teammate Ken Butler III spun him late in the race, and McDowell still rallied to a top-ten finish. He was never a serious threat to Frank Kimmel's title that year, but the championship race kept him in contention for much of the season.

As McDowell moved toward NASCAR, his ESR seat was taken over by former Formula One driver Scott Speed, a change that marked the end of McDowell's time in the series.

What happened in McDowell's first NASCAR seasons?

McDowell's NASCAR debut came in the 2007 Craftsman Truck Series for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, where he qualified 29th and finished 30th after a late wreck. He then drove Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00 Toyota in three Busch races, finishing 20th, 14th and 32nd, before his Cup debut the following year.

His Cup debut came at the Goody's Cool Orange 500, after David Reutimann replaced Dale Jarrett in the No. 44 and McDowell took the No. 00 seat. He started 34th and finished 26th after a flat tire near the end. Veteran Jeff Burton criticised him afterwards for blocking his line near the finish, a complaint that was complicated by the fact that McDowell was racing for a Lucky Dog free pass.

In August 2008 Mike Skinner took the car for three races while the team tried to get into the top 35 in owner points. McDowell returned at Richmond in September, but he failed to qualify for the Kansas race on September 28. The team did not renew his contract for 2009, after Michael Waltrip chose to keep driving rather than retire, and no sponsor was lined up for another car.

What happened in the 2008 Texas crash?

On April 4, 2008, during a qualifying attempt for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, McDowell's right front sway bar broke entering Turn 1. His car hit the SAFER barrier nearly head-on at about 185 mph (298 km/h), then rolled eight times with fire coming from the engine bay before it came to rest on its wheels.

Data reported at the time showed the car going from 185 mph to zero within about a foot. The impact pushed the barrier inward and had to be repaired, which delayed qualifying by an hour. The HANS device and the Car of Tomorrow chassis were credited with protecting him, and he walked away without injury.

Because the crash destroyed his primary car, he switched to a backup and started at the back of the field for the race.

What were McDowell's years with smaller Cup teams like?

After losing his ride at Michael Waltrip Racing, McDowell drove for several small teams. He ran part-time Nationwide Series races for JTG Daugherty Racing in 2009, raced Tommy Baldwin Racing's Cup car in several events that year and started the 2010 season with Prism Motorsports before moving to Whitney Motorsports.

In 2011 he drove the No. 66 Toyota for HP Racing, and he also made one Cup start for Joe Gibbs Racing at Texas while Kyle Busch was sidelined by NASCAR. In 2012 he ran full-time for Phil Parsons Racing, with the No. 98 car backed by Whitney Motorsports and Mike Curb.

His 2013 Daytona 500 produced a ninth-place finish, a career high at that point. Later that year he took pole for the debut Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio and finished second to A. J. Allmendinger. The results showed that he could still compete at the front of the field when his equipment allowed.

How did McDowell's Leavine Family Racing years go?

McDowell drove Leavine Family Racing's No. 95 Ford from 2014, after a deal announced in October 2013. He failed to qualify for the 2014 Daytona 500, but his best result that season was seventh in the Coke Zero 400.

At The Glen that year a crash between Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman sent Newman's car into McDowell's path. Newman's car clipped McDowell's rear, and McDowell's car was launched into the air before landing. Both drivers were unharmed, though the race was red-flagged.

In 2015 McDowell returned for a twenty-race schedule. In 2016 the team merged with Circle Sport and switched to Chevrolet, and McDowell split the season with Ty Dillon. He placed 15th in the Daytona 500, a best for the team in the Great American Race, and tenth at the Coke Zero 400. At Homestead he drove the No. 59 Chevrolet after the team bought a charter from Tommy Baldwin Racing.

In 2016 he also won at Road America in the Xfinity Series, driving a one-off for Richard Childress Racing in the No. 2 Rheem Chevrolet. He led the final 24 laps to take his first NASCAR victory.

In 2017 he returned to the No. 95, finishing 15th in the Daytona 500 and 13th at Kansas. At Daytona for the Coke Zero 400 he ran near the front and was second on the last lap before finishing fourth, his first career top-five. That season he completed 99 percent of the laps, the most of any full-time Cup driver, and finished 26th in points.

How did McDowell's Front Row years lead to a Daytona 500 win?

McDowell joined Front Row Motorsports' No. 34 for 2018 and stayed until the end of 2024. He won the 2021 Daytona 500 after avoiding a last-lap crash, and the victory came after more than a decade of Cup racing with teams that had few resources.

His 2018 season included a ninth-place finish at the Daytona 500, and he led twenty laps at the Coke Zero Sugar 400, a career best. He tied his best Cup points finish of 26th with a strong run at Homestead. In 2019 he finished fifth at the Daytona 500, his best result in that race, and fifth at Talladega after running third on the final lap.

The 2019 Daytona result brought a confrontation. Joey Logano, the 2018 champion, complained about McDowell's role in the race, and McDowell told him that his team did not pay him to push other drivers.

In 2020 he took a 14th at Daytona, eighth at Pocono and seventh at Indianapolis, and he won the pole for the All-Star Open at Bristol. He and Bubba Wallace later set aside their differences and used the front bumper from the incident to raise over $34,000 for charities, including Victory Junction. He also finished 23rd in points that year, his best Cup points finish to that point.

His win at the 2021 Daytona 500 came in the 358th start of his Cup career. It was the second-most starts before a first win, behind only Michael Waltrip, who won in his 463rd start. The win also locked him into the All-Star Race and the playoffs for the first time in his fourteen-year Cup career. He was eliminated after the Round of 16 at Bristol and finished 16th in points, with one win, two top-fives and five top-tens.

The 2022 season began with a seventh-place finish at Daytona. Later that year crew chief Blake Harris was suspended for four races and fined $100,000 after an L2 penalty found in post-race inspection at Pocono. The team lost one hundred driver and owner points and ten playoff points.

In 2023 he finished 28th at Daytona, then dominated the road course race at Indianapolis to win his second career Cup race. It was also his first stage win. He was eliminated after the Round of 16 again and finished 15th in points, with an average finish of 19.0 for the season.

He began 2024 with a 36th-place finish at Daytona. In May he announced that he would leave Front Row at the end of the season for a multi-year contract with Spire Motorsports. At Atlanta he won his first career pole after 467 starts. At Talladega he was leading on the final lap when he spun while trying to block Brad Keselowski, and he finished 31st. He ended the year 23rd in points with a career-best six poles, the most of any driver that season.

How did McDowell's seasons compare by team?

McDowell's Front Row and Spire years are best read as a series of seasons with one car number. The table below sets out his main result for each year from 2018 onward, which covers the period in which he drove for the two teams that shaped his late Cup career.

What has McDowell done since joining Spire?

In 2025 McDowell took the first Cup pole for Spire Motorsports at Las Vegas and finished 11th at the Daytona 500. His season was up and down, with many close calls. Kaulig Racing released Josh Williams in late July, and McDowell drove Kaulig's No. 11 at Watkins Glen in his place.

On January 29 McDowell announced that he would return to the Truck Series after sixteen years. He drove Spire's No. 7 truck at Daytona and Atlanta, and that part-time role continues alongside his full-time Cup schedule.

Away from racing, McDowell and Justin Marks own the Trackhouse Motorplex, a karting facility that opened in October 2012 about 30 miles north of Charlotte. It was inspired by a karting track in Parma, Italy.