Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell says he “never lost hope” of winning the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time in 18 years with the 358 race starting.
Front Row Motorsports driver McDowell started the 17th race Sunday, avoiding the accumulation of 16 cars in the early stages, and kept close to his fellow Ford Mustang displays throughout the race.
As the field approached Turn 3 on the 200th and final lap, McDowell tagged Penske Ford’s backhand by Brad Keselowski, who then tapped team-mate Joey Logano, who put both cars back up the banking where they were collected by the forward package.
McDowell managed to make his way through the melee, and was named the winner before 0.070s from managing the Chase Elliott Cup champion, the result of who was at the forefront at the time the yellow flags were flown. throw.
McDowell’s victory meant that only Michael Waltrip (463) has started more races before winning his first Cup trophy, when he arrived in the 2001 Daytona 500 which was overtaken by the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. last breast.
“It’s been a tough road for me,” said McDowell, who had the previous best Cup result in fourth place in the 2017 Daytona second race.
“I had to spend many years grinding out, but I have finally felt like this that the last four years have become more competitive and more opportunities with Front Row and [owner] Bob Jenkins.
“Daytona has been so good for us that we’ve been in the top 10, we’ve been in the top five, we’ve been close. The last lap, there have been times where I made the wrong choice, [chose the] wrong row and pushing the wrong guy, and it’s so hard to get in position and do it.
“I think, for so long, it was hard because I knew with starting and parking, I wasn’t going to run the full race, without getting a bullet.
“But even when I was starting and parking, I was like: ‘man, one day I’m going to get a glimpse of it and I’ll be able to do it because of all this I put in -into it. ‘I’ve never lost hope of that.
“And when I come to the racetrack, when we load up and down, I think every weekend:‘ Okay, this is the weekend that is about to happen. ‘”
The 36-year-old explained after the race that his plan for the final breaststroke was not to move until Keselowski had done so.
“I was in the position where I wanted to come to the white flag,” he said.
“My plan was to push the # 2 the whole chest until it came off [Turn] 4, and [coming out of it], I was going to try to get to the outside or inside. But my plan was to stick to the # 2 because I knew he was going to want it, I knew he wasn’t going to ride it.
“But I also knew he wasn’t going to pull out with three paws to go and try to get side by side with Logano or [Kevin] Harvick and other Fords were up there.
“I felt like I could just stay on his knees, that would give me the opportunity when he made the move to make a hole and get something done.
“The hole happened by itself. I can’t even tell you what happened.”