Michael McDowell will drive No. 95 car full-time in 2017
Michael McDowell will have a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ride for the first time in his career.
Leavine Family Racing said Thursday that McDowell would drive its No. 95 car for all 36 races in 2017. McDowell drove 31 of 36 races for the team in 2016 and had two top-10 finishes.
McDowell spent 29 of those 31 races in the No. 95 car while Ty Dillon drove seven races for the team. In the season-opening Daytona 500 and the final race of the season at Homestead, McDowell drove a second entry for the team. The Homestead race in the No. 59 car tied McDowell’s best finish of the season (10th).
Dillon will drive full-time for Germain Racing in 2017. Todd Parrott, McDowell’s crew chief for the final seven races of 2016, will return in the same capacity.
“With both Michael and Todd returning to the team this season we are looking to maintain the consistency we found towards the end of last year and continue to push forward and build off the positive momentum,” team vice president Jeremy Lange said in a statement. “We had great performances on the track last year and we’re hoping that continuing in that direction will lead to more sponsorships for the team.”
2016 was the best year of McDowell’s career. His average finish of 24.5 was nearly six spots higher than any other season. When he ran 33 of 36 races in 2013 (the most McDowell has ever run in a season), his average finish was a shade above 38th.
The team was known in 2016 as Leavine Family Circle Sport Racing, but announced a split with Circle Sport owner Joe Falk near the end of the season. The merger was beneficial to both parties, because Falk — who had run the No. 33 at Circle Sport — had a charter to guarantee entry into all 36 races in 2016.
Leavine Family Racing purchased the charter used by Tommy Baldwin Racing in 2016 for the upcoming season as TBR shuttered full-time operations at the end of the year. Plans for Falk’s charter haven’t been announced.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
