Continuing to be one of the pleasant surprises so far in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Michael McDowell and Front Row Motorsports posted their third consecutive top-10 finish in Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
While many were not surprised with McDowell’s presence at the front of the field during this year’s Daytona 500 and last weekend at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway Road Course, this year’s Great American Race winner is proving that his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang is showing speed everywhere.
That speed continued Sunday through 267 laps at one of NASCAR’s most demanding 1.5-mile tracks with McDowell earning a sixth-place finish and leaving his Florida residency fourth in the championship standings heading to Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
“I think it says a whole lot for this whole Front Row Motorsports organization,” said McDowell after the race. “We’re just making huge improvements and to come here to a very challenging mile-and-a-half and run in the top 10 and not luck our way in, we raced there all night long, is super impressive.
“Thank you to everybody back at the shop. I’ve got to thank Love’s Travel Stop, Speedy Cash, Freight Auctions, Speedco and especially Ford and our Roush Yates engines are super strong right now.”
Of course, one of the added benefits to McDowell’s fast start has been his ability to start inside the top-10 based on NASCAR’s qualifying formula contributed to him being able to maintain a spot inside the top-10 throughout the race, but with other teams, including McDowell’s stealing some of the limelight from the powerhouse organizations, parity is a word that was used fluently following the checkered flag.
McDowell mentioned knowing the same aerodynamic and tire package from Homestead last June contributed to allowing their team to stay on par with others, including chasing down Kevin Harvick in the closing laps of the race.
“I think one thing that has kind of helped us with that is bringing the same tire and the same package back to the racetrack. Last year we had that lightning strike here, and we transitioned from day to night. So, we sort of had in our notes what happened when it cooled off and what our balance needed to be and not to over-adjust when it came to that night.
“So, I felt like we had a good game plan pre-race going into it, and then Drew and I talked about it on the radio when the sun started to go down and the clouds were kind of blocking the sun where my balance was at and what we needed to do so that we could stay in front of it.”
Working with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, McDowell knew if they had a good consensus with what would work under the lights, they could execute and well.
“We sort of knew that after halfway once it makes its kind of transition, it doesn’t change much after that, so we felt like we were ahead of it a little bit tonight,” added McDowell.
With an average finish of fifth after three races, life is good for the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team.
“I think that this is a really big thing for us,” McDowell mentioned. “The Daytona 500 (win) is huge. You’re not going to replace that. But the fact that we’re legitimately running in the top 10, not just here but at the road course last week, too, we overcame a lot of issues last week and really raced our way back into the top 10.
“To start the season with three top 10s on three very different racetracks. Daytona, everybody knows that anything can happen there, but I’m very proud of my race team. We have done a great job of making big gains. To be running down Kevin Harvick with five laps to go for a top-five, that’s stinking awesome for us to even be in that sentence, conversation. It just shows how much hard work everyone has done at Front Row, and it’s just awesome right now.
McDowell said he never would have imagined such a magnificent start for his Front Row Motorsports team. Realistically, he expected his team to maintain pace with their performances from 2020 but having momentum and good race cars they have been able to shock themselves with the strong start.
“Everything is clicking,” sounded McDowell. “The momentum is going and it’s pretty awesome right now. It’s exciting to be a part of this organization and to have this momentum. Like I said, this is a win for us to come to Homestead and run in the top 10.
“I think that we are realistic about where we finished the year and where we wanted to be, and we thought that we were in that 15th to 20th range pretty consistent last year.
To make a big jump like we did, I wouldn’t say that it’s a complete, like, unbelievable shock, but it’s pretty close to it. We have definitely out-performed where we thought we’d be, especially on the mile-and-a-half.
“These places, especially these slick places are really tough for the smaller teams. I think that at the same time we had a good run here last year and something to build on, so we came back and made some improvements, and yeah, we kind of shocked ourselves.”
While McDowell admits the lack of new development in chassis, parts and new pieces allowed the parity factor to shine in Homestead, the best path for Front Row Motorsports is continuing to take it one week – one race at a time.
“The one thing about this 34 team is we race our guts out, and if we have a 25th place car we’re going to race our guts out and finish 23rd,” added McDowell. “And if we’ve got a 10th place car we’re going to race our guts out and finish eighth. We just come into it with an open mind and just doing everything we can to get the most we can.
“Obviously if we keep this streak going and 10 races from now we’re still running in the top 10, I’ll probably feel a little bit different about it. I’d tell you, yeah, we’re definitely going to do this every week, but right now we’re going to take it one week at a time and just keep fighting hard and see what the season brings.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
