(Photo: Eric Parks | The Podium Finish)
CHICAGO — Not many drivers in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 220 field have street course racing experience.
Michael McDowell, however, is one that does.
Before shifting over to NASCAR early in his career, McDowell had a history in sports car and open-wheel racing. He’s made multiple starts on street courses, but the most recent one came 17 years ago north of the border.
That said, McDowell views Sunday’s race in the Windy City as a bit more important than some of the other road courses the series hits.
“I think this one is a little bit higher for us,” McDowell said in a media conference this week.” Our road course program is solid – we’ve seen that over the last year and a half with this Next Gen car. But I think going to a new course that nobody has any experience on – tricky and challenging – it’s going to play into the hands of guys that have done races like this, and that adapt quickly. We are talking about the best drivers in the world, so they’re going to figure it out really fast.”
The last time McDowell was on a road course, he had a chance to win. Three weeks ago at Sonoma Raceway, McDowell contended with race winner Martin Truex Jr., but ultimately, a slow pitstop in the waning laps relegated him back to seventh.
But road courses overall have been a bright spot for the 2021 Daytona 500 champion. He finished 12th at Circuit of the Americas in March, and dating back a season, McDowell recorded top 10s at four of the six road courses and led 14 laps at Watkins Glen International.
Needless to say, anytime left and right-hand turns are involved, McDowell is chomping at the bit for a strong performance.
(Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
“I think that you’re going to be aggressive,” McDowell said. “All of our races are still going to be track position, so you’re going to want to make sure that you’re staying up-front and keeping track position, which is generally what you need to do. But at the same time, you’re very narrow, surrounded by concrete barriers, and you can’t make any mistakes. So, that’s what the challenge is of a street race. You have to go for it, but when you take those risks it takes time, so you have to balance when you do that.
“I think street courses are so much fun, and just great events and opportunities to bring the race to the people. Doing some in the past and seeing how cool of events street course racing is and how fast the cars look – the sights, the sounds and all those things – I was really excited about it.”
While McDowell expects aggression, he thinks Sunday’s race could play out differently than some of the other road courses. The Chicago Street Course features seven 90-degree corners and a super technical set of corners between Turns 7 and 10. With concrete walls and tight corridors replacing curbs and grassy runoff areas, McDowell said that the race could be less chaotic and more orderly.
“If you look at our style of road racing, for sure, it’s super aggressive wheel-to-wheel. But, we always have a lot of run-off and areas that have a lot of forgiveness,” McDowell said. “So, Turn 1 at Indy: You bury it down in there, because there’s an oval, grass, access routes. But, when there’s a 90-degree with a concrete barrier, you’re going to think twice about burying it down in there. It’s just the reality of it. Calculated aggression is going to be what wins this race, and I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of what we typically see on our road courses – in particular, on the starts and restarts.
“You need a good drive off the corners in order to be close enough to challenge somebody to the brake zone. Everybody is so good in the brake zones now. It’s not like you can be five or six car lengths back and just bomb it in there. So, I feel like the passes are going to start by acceleration off the corner and getting close.”
With nine races remaining in the regular season, McDowell sits 20th in points, 27 below the cutline. He’ll start Sunday’s Grant Park 220 from the sixth position.
The race is set for 5:00 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
