McDowell dominates Verizon 200 at Brickyard
Aug. 14—INDIANAPOLIS — Michael McDowell drove the race of a lifetime Sunday as he captured a dominating victory in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The 38 year-old veteran out-dueled second-place Chase Elliott, driving his fast No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford Mustang GT to a .09 second victory over Elliott's NAPA Chevy.
After taking only his second career winning checkered flag in his 453 NASCAR career starts, the likeable Arizona native did a long, smoky burnout ending just short of the famous IMS yard of bricks. An elated McDowell emerged from his smoke filled Mustang greeted by hugs and kisses from his waiting wife and family.
To the cheers of the crowd, an overwhelmed McDowell tried to put his monumental win into words, "This is such a dream come true! Man, we had a fast Ford Mustang. We executed! We did what we needed to do to put on a performance like that. I don't know if it was dominant, but it felt pretty dominant to me."
When asked about the thrilling last laps with Elliott closing in on him, McDowell said, "I was really trying to pace myself. I figured there would be a late race caution. I didn't want to burn my stuff up, so I was just trying to maintain the gap. Then when I got into traffic, he started to close. I had to push it. I just can't believe it...I'm so thankful to everyone at Front Row Motorsports, Bob Jenkins (team owner), everyone at Roush-Yates Engine shops, to Doug (Yates), those guys gave me everything today. We have so many people who help us. We had the fastest car. Just so thankful to everybody who stuck behind us. I'm so proud."
A disappointed Elliott commented on his second-place finish and congratulated McDowell on his flawless performance, "I just needed to be a little better. I really appreciate the (team's) efforts...just needed a little bit more and came up short. Congratulations to Michael. He did a good job. He stayed mistake free and that's what you gotta do to win."
A disappointed third-place finisher and race pole-sitter Daniel Suarez talked about the pit road mistake that cost him the lead and chance at victory.
"We win and lose as a team. That's all I can say. A little bit heartbreaking, but that's part of the sport," Suarez said.
Making McDowell's dominating performance more significant and remarkable was the fact that the field of 39 drivers was perhaps the most talented and competitive in NASCAR road racing history. There was a record of seven talented road racers representing seven different countries along with the growing list of talented NASCAR Cup Series "regulars" in the 39-car field.
McDowell led a dominating 54 of the 82-lap (200 miles) total, in a race that only had one caution period, and an amazing 77 straight green flag laps to the finish. The Front Row Motorsports team driver McDowell became the first driver in NASCAR Cup Series history whose first two wins came at the Daytona International Speedway (2021) and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Perhaps the most important result of McDowell's Verizon 200 victory was that Sunday's win punches his ticket into the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the 2023 title.
An elated Mc Dowell commented on his Daytona 500 win compared to his win Sunday in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, "It's hard to top the Daytona 500 (win), but we came pretty close today!"
Saturday's races of the first "Brickyard Weekend" triple header weekend saw veteran IndyCar champion Scott Dixon hold off a charging Graham Rahal to win the Gallagher Grand Prix. The win by the popular IndyCar star earned Dixon his 54th career win in 319 starts, and made it 19 years in a row the Kiwi native has won at least one IndyCar race.
In Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 150 event, NASCAR Cup Series 2023 rookie candidate, and 2022 Xfinity Series champ Ty Gibbs stepped back down to score a dominating win over second-place Sam Mayer by almost 8 seconds. Gibbs notched his first win on the Indy road course and 12th Xfinity Series win in 58 starts.
The NASCAR stars run their second road race in a row going to Watkins Glen International next weekend where two-time Watkins Glen winner and 2020 NASCAR Cup champion Chase Elliott hopes another win will earn a position in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship Playoffs.
Contact Aaron Kirchoff at aaron.kirchoff@greensburgdailynews.com.
