Michael McDowell drives the No. 34 Loves Truck Stops Ford Fusion in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. McDowell has been racing in NASCAR divisions since 2006 and has spent much time in all the series in NASCAR. Whether it be the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards in 2006 to racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series today. McDowell has seen the times of change and continues to see it as he moved from Leavine Family Racing to Front Row Motorsports over the off-season. But for McDowell, it is all about going back to the beginning and seeing how he got to where he is today, after all, McDowell was a rookie in the series at one time. 
McDowell began racing in stock cars in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. The driver from Phoenix, Arizona made his debut in 2006 at the Milwaukee Mile. McDowell earned his first career victory at Kentucky the following season. That season, he earned a total of three victories (Pocono, Chicago, and Toledo). The victories in the series really put McDowell on the map and in the eyes of owners in the upper NASCAR ranks.
“I think that it is different than it was before in 2007 when I ran in ARCA," McDowell said. "I was winning poles and races, I was getting a decent amount of attention from Cup and XFINITY teams and having conversations. I feel like it used to be a closer tie to the grassroots. It’s not where we’ve neglected it, it’s just its natural path of what's happening so you have to be more intentional about it."
Along with the four victories in ARCA, McDowell made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Martinsville with Darrell Waltrip. McDowell made three starts at the end of the season in the XFINITY Series with Michael Waltrip Racing and just a year later, made his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut with MWR. Unlike drivers who were coming up with him, McDowell was racing in the top division of NASCAR before those around him found anything in the upper ranks. McDowell made 20 starts for Michael Waltrip Racing with the best finish of 20th at Richmond in the fall.
"There are a lot of great guys that have come up through the K&N Series. Had they had a little bit more support behind them through that process and had quicker success in the Trucks and XFINITY, I think it would have kept that momentum going. Not anything of their own doing, it's just the economy and they weren’t getting good rides coming out of those championships."
Michael Waltrip Racing was still in its growing stage and following the 2008 season, McDowell was let go from the team. The relentless faith and never give up attitude kept McDowell in the series when he very well could’ve walked away from it all. When it comes to asking drivers about what they think needs to be done, ask a guy who knows what it takes to make it. Whether he’s had to drive a car that he’ll need a tetanus shot following the race or a brand new car.
“I think there needs to be a clearer path for those guys and having them on the same weekends as the cup races is important,” added McDowell. “Being there, being seen, being around people paying attention, I think that is very important.”
McDowell has spent his fair share of time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and has witnessed some success in the series including a win at Road America in 2016. McDowell has raced against drivers who have come and gone and he’s raced against drivers who have become champions in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. When it comes to the Cup drivers coming down to the XFINITY and Truck Series, it’s been a real popular subject in the minds of race fans.
“I think there is a certain balance of what that looks like and how many,” said McDowell. “I think if you have a guy doing 3-4 races a year than yeah that brings great attention to the series. I think if you do more than that, I don’t want to call it cherry picking, but it could take away from the guys who are trying to make their way up and win races and championships.”
McDowell has been in a variety of different types of cars in his career. He's driven for some of the biggest teams in NASCAR including Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing, but he’s also driven for the smaller teams like MacDonald Motorsports and Whitney Motorsports. The gap between big and little teams is huge especially in the budgets and spending room that teams have. It all shows on Saturday and when a guy like Kyle Busch brings big money sponsorship with him to his ride, he’s going to have the best equipment. This isn’t just Busch but its a large number of drivers who head to the local short track and takes his big money organization with him. He’ll show up and face a guy who is racing to put food on the table and has a car that gets set up in a small garage outside his house.
“The hard part is when you have guys with resources and guys like Kyle Busch. When he goes and runs a late model race and he spends all this money on his late model, he has nice stuff just like everyone else. Not to say he has an advantage, but you take a top guy like that and he can stink up the show too. There's a balance of bringing awareness to it and then also not saturating it so much that you take away the pop and pizazz for the other guys.”
Being that driver who has stepped down to the XFINITY Series off and on, McDowell has been that guy a few times in his career. That has always been a tough subject and as noted above has been on the minds and in the mouths of NASCAR fans for a few years now. A series that earns the label “names are made here” has been dominated by Cup regulars off and on lately. It’s not just the fans who get tired of it, some of the drivers get tired of it too, including McDowell. But McDowell recognizes the good things that come out of the Cup drivers racing in the series too.
“I don’t know where I stand on that, I see both sides of it and I’m not trying to be wishy-washy about it but I get tired of seeing Cup guys win XFINITY Series races too,” McDowell explained “It’s not that cool when they do. It’s not that big of a deal, it might be a big deal to them, but to the fans, it’s not, but at the same time when an XFINITY Series regular beats the Cup guys it is a big deal.”
McDowell has had a loyal sponsor in the form of K-LOVE Radio that has sponsored him since 2010. The loyal sponsorship has been with him in both the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series. Having a sponsorship like that can be beneficial in the long run especially when a driver runs in both series. In any series in NASCAR, sponsorship is key to having a fast car and to just put the car on the track. The issue is that these sponsors want to partner with a proven driver instead of taking a chance on what could be the next big thing for them.
“If the teams were more committed to developing drivers and their approach, then I believe they would find sponsorship for those programs,” said McDowell. “You just get creative and you work it. If you go to a sponsor and you say you can have Kyle Busch or you can have Brandon Jones they are going to want Kyle Busch. There’s a lot of reasons for that but if you are able to pair the two together and build a program around that then I feel that’s good.”
He’s had experience at finding sponsorship or at least having people who do that for him. During his time at Leavine Family Racing, McDowell had a total of 16 different primary sponsorships. Despite spending most of the recent years with a primary sponsorship, McDowell has spent seasons with a plain car with no stickers at all.
In the long run, McDowell has managed to find a way to continue in the sport and knows a thing or two about his roots and the path to success. McDowell is just the first driver who spoke with us about this subject as over the next few months we’ll have everyone from ARCA/CRA late model drivers to those drivers like McDowell who race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. It’ll be interesting to hear each drivers opinion about the future of the roots program and how they made it to where they are today. (Koelle,2018)
Photo Credit - Brandon Wright/Brandon Wright Photography
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