Michael McDowell reveals how legal battle with NASCAR affected Front Row Motorsports

Michael McDowell finished up his final season at Front Row Motorsports in 2024, but it was clouded when the team declined to sign the new charter agreement for 2025, opening up a whole new can of worms.

While McDowell won’t have to worry about the legal battle with NASCAR hanging over FRM’s head in 2025, as he’s moved on to Spire Motorsports, he provided some fascinating insight into how the team is handling their business at the moment. He doesn’t believe it has that much of an impact, as the leadership of FRM has handled the uncertainty well.

“I don’t feel like it impacted anything, just quite yet, but I do know that anytime you have uncertainty around the race shop — you know, there’s 120 employees there at Front Row. I don’t know how many at 23XI. But everyone doesn’t know all the behind the scenes of what’s happening, because they can’t, right? You can’t, you know, explain to everybody what the, you know — the behind the scenes are, because of confidentiality and all these agreements. So, it does make for some uncertainty,” McDowell told FOX’s Bob Pockrass.

“I think that what’s happened over the last couple, you know, weeks or last month has probably calmed all that down at those shops. And, you know, I think that it didn’t affect us last year. Other than, you know, just making sure everybody was, you know, staying encouraged at the shop, and not getting too worried about their jobs. But I think, you know, Bob [Jenkins] and Jerry [Freeze] did a really good job of managing that.”

Regardless, McDowell is satisfied with his decision to move to Spire Motorsports after a longtime partnership with FRM. He recognizes it’s a new chapter, and the vision for the team’s future has him encouraged.

“This is a new chapter for my family and me, and we’re incredibly thankful for the opportunity that’s in front of us,” McDowell said in a statement, when the move was announced. “It’s going to take some hard work. But I feel like everything is in place for us to be successful as a race team — to win races and contend for championships.

“People are the greatest asset to any organization. And with Spire’s vision, ambition, knowledge, and dedication, we will achieve great things. Failure is not an option, and that’s the mindset that it will take to achieve our goals.” 

Perhaps Michael McDowell can reach new heights with his move to Spire. He’s always been one of the sport’s more underrated wheelmen, and he’ll have a shot to truly show his stuff with an up-and-coming team in 2025.