Michael McDowell compares resources at smaller team compared to a larger team

Michael McDowell recognizes he has to put in a ton more work than other drivers due to his team’s resources, but it’s nothing he’s going to let hold him back.

He proved that as much at Indianapolis last weekend, leaving victorious on Sunday, clinching his spot in the playoffs. Joining Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin afterward, McDowell explained some of the key differences for a smaller team in the NASCAR Cup Series, versus a larger team like Hamlin’s.

“I think that I haven’t been in your shoes, so I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me how much more you get. But most of the pre-race preparation, as far as what to study, what to look at, restarts, who was the best, who was the worst, all that, I do that myself,” explained McDowell. “I don’t have an engineer that’s bringing that to me and saying, ‘Hey, I need you to look at the No. 99 this week, because he was the best last year.’ I go through that data and that SMT and that video, and find who was the best restarter. Because our guys are building shocks, and trying to get to the race track. I don’t have somebody dedicated to that.

“As far as that simulation goes, we have a great partnership with Ford Performance, and we get DIL time. We’re on the driving simulator. But our session’s Thursday. Car’s already loaded up. It’s on the hauler. It was in the Indy parade when I was finishing up. So for us, we can learn, but there’s only so much you can do at the track. You might adjust a few heights. You might do a few things, little tweaks, but building your model needs to happen several weeks before, and that’s hard for us to do, because we’re just trying to keep our head above water.”

Nevertheless, it isn’t the worst thing in the world for McDowell. He relented that it keeps him more engaged in the process throughout the week, and he appreciates that.

“So some of those things are a challenge, but at the same time, it’s what’s kept me super engaged. I don’t have a choice. Like if I don’t do it, it’s not going to get done, and that’s been good for me, because it’s kept me locked in, but it’s also kept me a part of how to get better myself, and how to look at it myself and make sure that I’m doing all the things that I need to do to execute at a high level,” McDowell added. “Like you said, it’s not about just having great equipment. Yesterday I had great equipment. I think my car was better than yours, and I believe that. But there’s so much more that I need to do to be able to capitalize on that moment, and that’s what I’ve always been super impressed with, and I’ve talked to you about this before, is guys that execute at a high level, and do it week-in and week-out. It’s so hard to do.

“I mean, you can have the best car, but to do what Ty Gibbs did on Saturday, it’s still hard to do. He had a dominant car, but you’ve still got to execute. You’ve still got to do everything right. And it’s not as easy as it looks. So it was fun to be in that situation, and kind of have that pressure on you to do it. And you prepare for it, but you don’t know if you’re going to buckle. You don’t know if you’re going to buckle under the pressure or not.”

If you weren’t impressed with Michael McDowell’s Indianapolis domination, then you should be now. He’s proven capable in many aspects of NASCAR over the course of his career, and he’s seeing the fruits of his labor come to fruition in 2023.