Michael Christopher McDowell (born December 21, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports and part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports. He has previously competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He has also raced in open-wheel and sports cars.
McDowell began his career in open-wheel cars, which included competing in Formula Renault and Champ Car, and in sports cars like the Rolex Sports Car Series and 24 Hours of Daytona. He moved to stock car racing in 2006, and his first Cup Series season came in 2008, the latter of which saw him attract attention for a violent qualifying crash at Texas Motor Speedway. However, after losing his ride at Michael Waltrip Racing, much of McDowell's Cup career in the following years was with smaller teams, oftentimes as a start and park driver. McDowell won at Road America during the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series. McDowell did not run full-time in the Cup Series again until 2017 with Leavine Family Racing when he ran all 36 races. McDowell joined Front Row Motorsports in 2018, scoring his first Cup victory at the 2021 Daytona 500 with them. He moved to Spire Motorsports for 2025.
Early career McDowell started his career at the age of three racing BMX bicycles. He would always win his division because there were no other three or four-year-olds to compete against. At the start of each race, someone would have to hold him in the starting gate because his feet did not reach the ground. Then, when McDowell was eight years old, he moved to karting with help from his mother, Tracy, his father, Bill, and his older brother, Billy, who were all avid race fans. After ten years in karts, he would win not only the World Karting Association championship, but he would also take back-to-back International Kart Federation championships, along with 18 consecutive feature wins.
Open wheel From karts, McDowell moved into Formula Renault with World Speed Motorsports in 2002 and won the Infineon Raceway, Las Vegas, and Firebird International Raceway events in his rookie season. Moving up the ladder, McDowell would move to the Star Mazda Series in 2003. He took victories at Sebring and Road America en route to a runner-up finish in the points. McDowell won seven races in 2004 en route to winning the series championship. McDowell would be picked up by Champ Car team Rocketsports for Surfer's Paradise and Mexico City, but decided to move on in 2005 to the Grand-Am Cup Series.
Grand-Am During his run for the Star Mazda Championship, McDowell met businessman Rob Finlay at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, where McDowell was an instructor. McDowell and Finlay soon established a partnership, and McDowell would drive his first sports car, a Porsche 996 in the Grand-Am Cup Series for Finlay Motorsports. In 2005, McDowell would stay at Finlay, but moved up to the Rolex Sports Car Series, joining veteran Memo Gidley in a BMW powered Riley sponsored by the Make A Wish Foundation. Together, they finished sixth in the overall points and took the team's first victory at Mexico City. McDowell made history by becoming the youngest driver to stand on the podium for a Grand-Am race at Barber Motorsports Park,, and became the first driver since Mario Andretti to compete in both an open-wheel race and a sports car race in the same weekend. McDowell would also drive the team's No. 60 BMW M3 in the Grand-Am Cup series to a podium finish at Daytona International Speedway. McDowell would stick with Finlay for 2006 and was again partnered with Gidley. The duo would improve to fourth in points despite being winless. McDowell also drove a No. 15 Ford Mustang with owner Finlay, driving the car to a win at Barber Motorsports Park. He would cap off his Grand-Am year with a second-place finish at Miller Motorsports Park.
McDowell returned to the series for the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona, driving for Michael Shank Racing with drivers Jorge Goncalvez, Felipe Nasr, and Gustavo Yacamán. The four drivers would end up finishing third.
ARCA ARCA RE/MAX Series owner Eddie Sharp put McDowell behind the wheel of his No. 2 Dodge for five races of the 2006 season, starting with the Governor's Cup 200 at the Milwaukee Mile, where he scored a 34th-place finish. McDowell finished in sixth place at Salem, fifth at Talladega, and fourth at Iowa.
McDowell returned to ESR to run the full schedule for Rookie of the Year honors in 2007. McDowell was involved in controversy at Toledo Speedway when his ESR teammate, Ken Butler III, spun him late in the race. Butler would take his first win while McDowell would rally for a top ten finish. McDowell got his first stock car win at Kentucky Speedway. He followed that up with wins at Pocono, Chicagoland, and the season finale at Toledo. Although McDowell was in contention for the ARCA Re/Max Series championship all season, he was unable to pose a serious threat to Frank Kimmel for Kimmel's ninth championship. McDowell scored a second-place finish in the points along with Rookie of the Year honors, as well as scoring nine pole positions during the season. As McDowell moved to NASCAR, his ESR ride was taken over by former Formula One driver Scott Speed.
NASCAR
2007–2008 McDowell made his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series. Driving the No. 17 for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, McDowell qualified 29th and finished 30th after a late wreck. McDowell moved to the Busch Series as a developmental driver for Nextel Cup Series team Michael Waltrip Racing. Driving the No. 00 Toyota, McDowell drove at Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead, finishing respectively twentieth, fourteenth, and 32nd.
McDowell was chosen to drive the No. 00 Cup Series car in 2008 after Dale Jarrett's retirement; David Reutimann replaced Jarrett in the No. 44 UPS-sponsored car. McDowell started 34th and finished 26th in his Sprint Cup debut, the Goody's Cool Orange 500, after a flat tire near the end of the race. After the race, he was criticized by veteran driver Jeff Burton for having blocked Burton's way to the leader Denny Hamlin near the end of the race (McDowell was racing for the Lucky Dog free pass, which Burton did not realize at the time of his comments). In early August 2008, McDowell was pulled from the No. 00 Toyota Camry Sprint Cup car in favor of veteran NASCAR driver Mike Skinner for three races. Skinner helped evaluate the team's progress while trying to get the No. 00 into the Top 35 in owner points, though McDowell returned to the ride at Richmond on September 6, 2008. McDowell was again pulled from the No. 00 Toyota Camry when he failed to qualify for the Camping World RV 400 at Kansas on September 28. McDowell's contract was not renewed by MWR for 2009 when Michael Waltrip decided not to retire, and the team did not have a sponsorship for another car.
Crash at Texas Motor Speedway
While performing a qualifying attempt for the 2008 Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 4, 2008, McDowell had an accident that was strikingly similar to that of another racer with a road-racing background, Gordon Smiley, who died in a crash during Indianapolis 500 time trials in 1982. McDowell's right front sway bar broke entering Turn 1, which caused the car to hit the SAFER barrier almost head-on at approximately , according to data obtained and reported by SPEED channel (185 mph to zero mph in one foot, as reported by SPEED's Bob Dillner, before accelerating in the other direction). The car spun around once while tipping onto its roof, and then barrel-rolled eight times with fire coming out of the engine compartment, shedding debris in all directions, until coming to a stop back onto its tires.New car proved it works, but NASCAR can't rest ; April 4, 2008; Jeff Hammond; Fox Sports; Retrieved April 4, 2008 A large, dark impact mark was seen on the SAFER barrier, which showed how hard the car hit the barrier, which had to be repaired (the barrier moved inward when the car hit it), and as a result, qualifying for the race was delayed by an hour. The safety features of the barrier, the HANS device and the Car of Tomorrow racecar protected him. Because of this, he walked away from the crash without injury, and waved to the stunned crowd. Since his old car was destroyed, he had to switch to a backup car and ended up starting at the rear of the field in the race.
2009
In 2009, McDowell drove a part-time schedule for JTG Daugherty Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. On February 25, 2009, McDowell's first child, Trace Christopher, was born, named after Michael's late mother, Tracy. The baby boy was seven pounds, seven ounces, and born at 7:00 a.m. McDowell next attempted the April 2009 race at Talladega for Prism Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series, as a regular driver Dave Blaney had a family obligation. After JTG Daugherty Racing ran out of sponsorship support after the second race at Daytona International Speedway, it was announced that he would drive the next two races for MacDonald Motorsports. He also competed in several races with Tommy Baldwin Racing in the No. 36 Toyota Camry. McDowell remained in the top ten for most of the season. McDowell also competed in the Camping World Truck Series in 2009 for ThorSport Motorsports, driving the No. 98 Chevy Silverado.
2010–2011 In 2010, McDowell started the season for Prism Motorsports. He drove the No. 55 car, then moved to the No. 46 team of Whitney Motorsports. In 2011, McDowell drove the No. 66 Toyota for HP Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. JGR also added the Bucyrus 200 at Road America to McDowell's schedule, leaving open the possibility of adding more races. McDowell also drove one race for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series at Texas after NASCAR parked Kyle Busch following his actions at a Truck Series event.
2012–2013
In 2012, McDowell ran the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Nationwide Series car in select races, and competed in the Sprint Cup Series for Phil Parsons Racing (formerly HP Racing) full-time; the team secured full sponsorship for the first five races of the season. It formed a partnership with Whitney Motorsports and Mike Curb to field McDowell's car, which carried the No. 98.
In the 2013 Daytona 500, McDowell recorded a then-career high ninth-place finish. Later in the season in the Nationwide Series, McDowell won the pole for the inaugural Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio. McDowell finished second behind A. J. Allmendinger.
2014: Leavine Family Racing In October 2013, it was announced that McDowell would be moving to Leavine Family Racing's No. 95 Ford for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. McDowell failed to qualify for the 2014 Daytona 500. McDowell had a Sprint Cup career-best seventh-place finish in the Coke Zero 400.
At the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen, on lap 64, Greg Biffle came up on Ryan Newman's front bumper, turning him into the outside retaining wall. His car ricocheted off the wall into McDowell's path, where Newman barely clipped McDowell in the right rear of his car, and with the force of the impact, the rear end housing snapped, causing him to get airborne. The car bounced twice in the air before it hit the wall. His housing was forced against the wall. The race was red-flagged, though both drivers were unharmed.
2015–2016