Hochman: Why St. Louis fans should root for Michael McDowell on Sunday at World Wide raceway (2024)

Wait, who? Michael McDonald? Malcolm McDowell? McDonnell Douglas?

No, no, it’s Michael McDowell — a name you probably don’t know, but should allow entry into your sports cognizance, at least for a day.

In the driver’s seat, Michael McDowell is in the driver’s seat to compete for Sunday’s hardware after winning the pole Saturday for the Enjoy Illinois 300. The NASCAR Cup Series race starts at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway.

He’s a guy to root for because he’s a longshot who now has a shot.

At sunrise Saturday, there’s wasn’t much hope that McDowell could crack September’s NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. He’s ranked 23rd and only the top-16 drivers make it. But when he won Saturday’s pole during qualifying, his chance to win Sunday’s race dramatically increased.

And a win could catapult him in the standings.

“The way that it looks right now, I think that we have to win (to make the playoffs),” said McDowell, whose No. 34 Ford car registered a pole-winning lap of 138.598 mph (32.468 seconds). “… With track position and pit stall selection and all the things that are super-important here (at World Wide Technology Raceway), this is a great start of the weekend for us. We’ve just got to maximize the opportunity. We’ve got to capitalize. You know, we need a win desperately to get into the playoffs.”

McDowell is a fascinating fellow. He went “from a guy that was running 30th every weekend to winning the Daytona 500 (in 2021)” thanks to Bob Jenkins, who owns Front Row Motorsports. But now, McDowell is essentially a lame duck driver because Jenkins, whose operation is growing, is moving on from McDowell. Next year, McDowell (who turns 40 in December) will race for Spire Motorsports.

“I don’t really know where the terminology originates from … but I hate ‘lame duck’ — it’s so lame!” McDowell said. “It’s a lame word. I am as motivated as I’ve ever been to make sure that we win and make the playoffs. And for so many reasons, right? But more than ever, because I am making a change, and I want to finish what we started. And I want to do what I know we can do. And we have a group of people right now that we can win races (with). …

“I’m going to give (Jenkins) everything I have. Because that’s what you do when somebody has changed your life, right? It’s the only way that I know that we can do it.”

McDowell actually took an educated risk in Saturday’s qualifying. Only one other driver, Austin Cindric, shifted down to third gear on the final two turns during qualifying.

“Hey, don’t tell anybody!” McDowell playfully told a reporter.

This track is tricky. A driver is also a topographer. McDowell feels like he and his team have a “good notebook.” In fact, he led for a few dozen laps during the inaugural 2022 NASCAR race here.

NASCAR driver Ty Gibbs described the raceway as “just two different corners. I feel like it’s just one big road course that you just turn left on, to be honest with you. You’re downshifting (often). It’s just completely different than what you’re used to as an oval.”

And driver Chris Buescher called it a “really neat, unique racetrack” because the corners are considered so tight. Buescher said it “mixes all of our (driving) styles together” and that starts at WWTR have been “pretty wild.”

A year ago, it was Kyle Busch who won the Enjoy Illinois 300.

After his qualifying on Saturday, the defending champ was asked about the track.

“It’s not fun today,” Busch said.

There was some rain Saturday morning that affected “grip.” Busch finished 10th in qualifying. The legendary driver hasn’t won any of the past 34 Cup Series races. In fact, his last win was, yep, last year’s race here.

He’s ranked 14th. Fighting to stay in the top-16. And literally fighting — well, defending himself. In a recent race, Busch wrecked Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — and after the race, Stenhouse Jr. threw a punch at Busch as a minor melee ensued.

Incidentally, you’ve got to love NASCAR. You don’t normally see fighting or bad blood officially promoted by modern sports leagues, but here’s some info from a World Wide Technology Raceway press release: “Quarreling drivers tend to deliver their retribution on short tracks such as WWT Raceway, so keep an eye on Stenhouse Jr. possibly ruining Busch’s day as a payback.”

So, yeah, there are some spicy storylines entering Sunday’s race.

But a race is sometimes won the day before.

“I always say this — Saturday is a race of its own,” McDowell said Saturday. “And today we won the race. And tomorrow we’ll focus on winning that race. … But to win a Cup race, you have to be perfect. And we’ve seen it — it’s tough, right? You have past champions that haven’t won a race in a long time. We’ve seen really, really good guys and really good teams that have the speed and are so close, but everything has to go perfect. And so, we know what we have to do. We’ve been in the spot before, as far as needing the win to get in the playoffs and having speed. We have to rise to the occasion. And I think we will.”