Michael McDowell sits on the NASCAR Cup Series bubble. While he hopes for a win to guarantee a spot, he would be very proud to earn a spot based on points. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
LOUDON, N.H. – Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. might not be the household names fans expect to see come NASCAR Cup Series playoff time, but that hasn’t stopped the pair from inviting themselves to the party.
Stenhouse punched his ticket with his season-opening triumph in the Daytona 500, while McDowell is on the verge of making it on points, an accomplishment he said would mean a lot to him and his Front Row Racing team. Both Stenhouse and McDowell are seeking their second playoff appearance ever, with Stenhouse’s last visit coming in 2017 and McDowell’s in 2021 after his own Daytona 500 win.
“Our overall performance has increased, and we’re not lucking or fluking into good results,” McDowell said. “Right now, we are legitimately running well and that gives me confidence we can keep that going. New Hampshire, statistically, hasn’t been a great track for us, but we ran sixth at Richmond and ran well at Phoenix, so I do feel like our short track program has come a long way since last year.”
Last week’s fourth-place finish at Atlanta was McDowell’s fourth top-10 finish in the past five races. He said he hopes to maintain that consistency and earn his way into the playoffs.
“I think there’s a lot of accomplishment in [getting in on points],” he said. “Yes, we would rather win a race, but I think that being able to point your way in shows the consistency and speed and the overall performance of the entire team.”
While McDowell wishes he had the security of a win like what Stenhouse has, he said he and the team would take a lot of pride in getting on points.
“If we went out at Daytona and everybody crashed on the last lap and we won and got in, sure… we’ll take it. But if we go out to Watkins Glen and we qualify on the pole and lead every lap, that’s going to feel like a win,” McDowell said. “If we don’t win, and we point our way in, that will feel like a win as well.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is likely in the NASCAR playoffs based on his Daytona 500 win, but he said he still feels like an underdog. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
For Stenhouse and his JTG Daugherty race team, the stress is less because they are already in, but Stenhouse said he doesn’t want to rest on that.
“We definitely want another win,” Stenhouse said. “We could probably be more aggressive than we’ve been at some race tracks, but we set out a goal to make the playoffs on points, without our win. Right now, we’re doing that. We want to stay consistent.”
Stenhouse currently sits 14th in points and he said that he wants to continue to climb those standings because not only will that improve their playoff position, but it would mean they are running well as they approach the playoffs.
“I feel like this is our best season to date and we want to continue that throughout the rest of the year,” he said. “We have talked about taking risks to get more playoff points. It’s on our radar, but I just drive and let the [crew chief] figure that out.”
Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, both Stenhouse and McDowell said that they are proud of the strides their respective small teams are making this season.
“It’s awesome to be a part of it,” McDowell said. “Front Row is still a small team. We’ve got 70 people back at the shop and they’re doing a great job. We’re going in a great direction, so I’m really proud of all the men and women there. It’s fun. It’s fun to be part of something that is consistently getting better, and – in the eyes of competitors and people around us – overachieving. But for us, internally, we are just staying hammer down. We know you’re only as good as your last race and you just have to stay hammer down the whole time. We just have to keep it rolling.”
Michael McDowell’s string of four top-5 finishes in the last five races has him on the cusp of earning a NASCAR Cup Series playoff spot based on points. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
“There is a lot to be proud of,” Stenhouse said of his team. “We are a single-car team. We’re not a manufacturer team. We got great help from Chevrolet this year and we’ve gotten great help from Hendrick Motorsports this year, which has been huge for us and our team. But we’re definitely underdogs. I like a lot of the tracks in the playoffs, so we’ll see. You never know.”
With rain pushing Sunday’s Crayon 301 to a Monday 12 p.m. ET start time, both drivers will have to wait a little longer to see what the next chapter of the 2023 season holds. However, both seem ready to turn the page.
