Michael McDowell Clinches Playoff Berth With Dominate Performance In Indianapolis
by Hunter Thomas August 13, 2023 1 commentINDIANAPOLIS – Michael McDowell dominated Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard to punch his ticket to the NASCAR Playoffs.
McDowell became the 13th different winner of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season after he led a race high of 54 laps and held off Chase Elliott to capture his first win since the Daytona 500 in 2021.
“It was a total team effort,” McDowell said. “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’s win marks the third consecutive weekend a Ford went to Victory Lane. While Front Row Motorsports is considered somewhat of an underdog, McDowell was already competing for the final transfer Playoff spot heading into the weekend as he sat 17th in the standings. In fact, he has finished inside of the top-10 in 25% of the race this season as he has earned two top-five and six top-10 finishes.
Chase Elliott, who finished runner-up desperately needed a victory. He now sits 80 points out of the 16th and final NASCAR Playoffs transfer spot. With only Watkins Glen and Daytona remaining in the Regular Season, he’s going to have to capture a win, but of all the active drivers, he’s statistically the best on road courses. On Sunday, Elliott had McDowell in his sights in the final laps, but he just couldn’t catch him to challenge for the lead.
“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,” Elliott said. “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 (McDowell) – man, he did a good job, ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you have to do.”
Third-place finisher, Daniel Suarez is another driver who desperately needed a win. He now sits 28 points behind Bubba Wallace who is currently the final driver able to transfer into the NASCAR Playoffs. While Suarez is back in the standings, he made ground.
“I felt like the No. 99 Freeway.com Chevy was very strong today,” Suarez said. “We just lacked a little bit of speed the first-half of the race. We made a mistake as a team during the last pit cycle, which was probably the most important one. But we will continue to build and get better. We’ll continue to build race cars like this and hopefully we’ll have another shot next week at Watkins Glen (International).
Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman completed the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 was Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Shane Van Gisbergen who was making only his second-career series start after winning in downtown Chicago.
“It’s hard here because everyone’s on it,” Van Gisbergen said. “Everyone knows the track and there’s a lot more room for error. Everyone’s racing aggressively. I can’t thank the Project 91 guys here enough for the Enhance Chevy. So much fun to be back. Hopefully can do more. Had an awesome battle with Kyle (Larson) and Christopher (Bell) there. They got the better of me at the end, but battling with those guys was great.”
McDowell won Stages 1 and 3, and Denny Hamlin won Stage 2.
Throughout the 82-lap race, there was only one caution, and it was for Justin Haley in Turn 6.
Truex leads Hamlin in the standings by 60 points.
The NASCAR Cup Series will visit Watkins Glen International on Sunday, August 20 for the Go Bowling at The Glen. Live coverage will broadcast on USA at 3 p.m. ET.
Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com
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