Michael McDowell and his No. 71 GUNK Chevrolet fielded by Spire Motorsports keep making strides. (Photo: Hayden Hutchison | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. — Michael McDowell has a new lease on life as the driver of the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. After seven solid seasons with Front Row Motorsports, the 40-year-old native of Phoenix, Arizona, is working toward consistently producing frontrunner results with his new NASCAR Cup Series home.
For the first time in eight years, McDowell is back with the Chevrolet camp with a team that is on the rise. As with any changes, there is an acclimation period, a fitting description of the first quarter of the 2025 season.
“It’s hard to transition to a new team,” McDowell said. “There’s a lot of new things to learn from processes and procedures to people to new setups and new trains and thoughts of thinking and processes. It’s been a good transition. It hasn’t gone seamless. We’re constantly learning and having things pop up that we’re like, ‘Oh, man. Didn’t think that was gonna happen’ or ‘This is a little bit different than what we’ve expected.’ So there’s been a few things like that, which I think is is normal.
“I think that’s par for the course. But we’ve had a lot of speed, and we definitely have put together some good results. I’m looking forward to the second half here where we can really start to build our notebook and build some consistency. And now that we’re getting more familiar with the tools and what GM has to offer and how that correlates and and kinda what I need versus what they’ve had in the past for setup. So I think we’re getting there. We’re not there yet where we’re running on all eight cylinders, but we’re getting close. And even with not, we still have a decent amount of speed. So I think there’s a lot to look forward to.”
Solidly ranked 19th in the points standings, McDowell won a pole position at Las Vegas and has four top 15 finishes in the first nine races of the year. While he builds chemistry with the No. 71 team, he has a familiar voice atop the pit box in crew chief Travis Peterson.
Together, the McDowell-Peterson combination have a win, four top fives and 15 top 10s since the 2023 season. Their chemistry has helped with some of the growing pains that come with a move to a new team.
Michael McDowell gets ready to qualify for the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
“It’s been great. It’s been good from the standpoint that Travis and I don’t have to figure each other out,” McDowell observed. “We already know each other well in our communication. And the way we go about things is in line and similar. But the the hard part is it’s all new for both of us. And so the things that we thought we knew, we both don’t know. So some of the things that didn’t translate that we hoped would translate, they didn’t translate for both of us.
“But it’s been good. I’m very happy with the guys that I have and the guys that are on the 71 team, there’s a handful of them that have come from Front Row and have been with me for several years. And there’s new guys and and gals too that have added a whole lot to the program. So I feel good about where we’re at. I feel good about our people. I don’t think we’ve shown everything that we can do quite yet just because we are still figuring it out. But I really feel good about the team we have in place.”
Going into Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, McDowell has to be encouraged about his team’s chances to contend for the win. Starting 14th in the field of 39, the 2021 DAYTONA 500 champion knows how to succeed at harrowing drafting-style tracks.
Typically, McDowell excels at tracks where the stakes are high and his team can catalyze him to greater heights in terms of performances and results. Talladega is no exception to such a challenge for the mild mannered racer, rarely getting rattled by the three-to-four-wide racing packs.
Also, it does not hurt that McDowell has two young, spirited teammates in Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley. For the emerging multi-car team, it is like having two solid gunslingers with a proven, successful quarterback who knows how to win the big games and make the playoffs.
“I think that’s a good way of putting it. I think that Luke Lambert and Carson have done a great job,” McDowell said. “They have their notebook that has worked for them. We’re able to lean into that and try to understand how they approach things versus how we approach things in the past and and try to speed up that learning curve. So that’s been good. There’s been weekends where we definitely had to lean on them a ton, and that’s helpful. It’s helpful to have really fast teammates and teammates that you can bolt in their setup and it actually work. And so we’ve been able to do that several times now, and it works.
“So that’s good because it doesn’t always correlate. Sometimes, you can’t drive another driver’s tendencies. But so far, it’s been pretty seamless with how Carson and I run the cars. There’s some some similarities. There’s some differences, but we’ve been able to kinda pinpoint those differences, and I feel like that’s been good. I’m definitely the senior guy when it comes to meetings and processes and how we’re gonna approach things and how we’re gonna do things moving forward. But both Carson and Justin are doing a great job.
Most recently, Haley was consistently inside the top six at Bristol, placing third and sixth in Stages 1 and 2 before placing 13th. Likewise, Hocevar finished fifth in the opening stanzas before tough circumstances derailed an otherwise stellar performance.
Michael McDowell and Spire Motorsports welcome GUNK as the primary sponsor of the No. 71 Chevrolet for the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Spire Motorsports)
“Justin, in particular [at Bristol], had a great run and is starting to build that momentum. It’s taken the 7 team a little bit to get going, but I feel like they’re in a good spot now. And, honestly, the 71 has been super fast, the 77 has been super fast every weekend. They just had a a lot of misfortune with some mechanical issues, getting caught up in a wreck, and things like that. They haven’t been able to completely show their speed. And even last week, I think he was definitely in in line for a top five finish, and that last pit stop definitely took him out of contention for that.
“I think in general, everyone at Spire is pretty happy with where our cars are at and where our speed’s at, and we gotta work on our execution. We gotta get that better across all three teams, because you gotta capitalize on those fast cars when you have them. And I don’t think we’ve quite capitalized on it yet, but, we’ve had enough races to figure it out, and we’ve had enough races to build some momentum and some confidence. And now we can attack a little harder and hopefully execute a little bit better.”
Coming off the season’s only respite during Easter weekend, McDowell, his teammates and on track rivals will be put to the test with 28 consecutive race weekends between now and the season finale at Phoenix Raceway in November. Although some may dread the lack of a break in the action, McDowell offers a relatable perspective on the nonstop rhythm of the Cup season.
“I like it, honestly,” he shared. “I like staying in the rhythm, and I like staying in just the the work week going into the race weekend. It’d be great to have breaks and opportunities to do things like that. But, even last year with the Olympics at two weeks, to me, it was just a little bit like yeah, I lost a little bit of my rhythm. And you get in your rhythm. So I like it. Every weekend’s a new challenge, and every weekend’s a new opportunity and a new opportunity to try to go win.
“And so I like having that. I like having that to look forward to. When you have a bad week, you’re looking forward to the next one. And when you have a good week, you’re looking forward to the next one. But it is grueling, and it definitely is for the guys, for the team members. It’s really hard on them. So, yeah, it’s gonna be a stretch, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Editor’s Notes
We’ve just caught Michael McDowell and his No. 71 Spire Motorsports team after a thrilling lap around Talladega. Subscribe to TPF+ now for the full, uncut version of this feature story, complete with an exclusive video interview and more behind-the-scenes content you won’t find anywhere else!
