Michael McDowell raced his way into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs this past Sunday, securing his first victory of the 2023 season in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
McDowell led 54-of-82 laps, fending off a late push from Chase Elliott, who entered the race also in need of a victory to earn a postseason berth. Though just one caution flag was thrown the entire race, the first time a Cup Series race has featured a single stoppage since Fontana in 2012, McDowell was planning on one being thrown in the final laps, he told Denny Hamlin on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Monday.
“I didn’t want a caution, but I was planning on it,” McDowell said. “Mentally I was planning on it because it doesn’t happen where you get all the way to the end of the race with no caution. And not to say that NASCAR is trying to throw it, but people get sloppy, they get tired, you start locking brakes, you start making mistakes, you go in the gravel trap, which after the race I saw AJ [Allmendinger] go through the gravel trap [and] I was like “Oh my goodness, that would have been bad.’
“But I was planning on or anticipating a late race restart. And so, it was a tough deal because I was kind of trying to save my tires a little bit. Drive real straight and manage the gap. But as I got into traffic, he [Chase Elliott] started closing that gap and I’m like ‘Ahh, how hard do I push. I don’t wanna be in a bad spot if a caution comes out.’
“I was preparing for it, and I was thinking about it for sure.”
Michael McDowell reaches victory lane to clinch NASCAR Cup Series playoff berth
Fortunately for McDowell, there were no missteps within the field. The Verizon 200 remained caution free in the closing laps, allowing McDowell to pick up his second-career Cup Series victory.
“Winning the Daytona 500 was one of the coolest moments you could ever have,” McDowell said after the race. “But going to Victory Lane without your family, that was tough. So we cherry-pick. We come to the races we think we can win… Just so proud… You know, I thought we could point our way in [the playoffs], but after the car that we had yesterday in practice, I thought, man, we’ve got a good shot at winning if we could just get track position and maintain it.”