Michael McDowell

Qualifying was canceled due to rain and as the field was set by the NASCAR rulebook McDowell started 34th on Saturday. As the green flag waved for the 43-car-field, McDowell radioed to his pit crew on Lap 4 that he had substantial damage to his #00 Champion Mortgage Toyota Camry.

"After the deal happened with the 70 car, the toe was messed up quite a bit and the rear end housing was skewed pretty good," McDowell said. "We also had a vibration."

McDowell went five laps down while his Michael Waltrip Racing team worked on his car on pit road as the LifeLock.com 400 remained under green.

"It's just unfortunate," McDowell said. "We lost a bunch of laps and there was no way to recover. The guys did a good job working on the car to make it drivable. Even though we were out of contention, I think we were able to learn a few things during the race."

As McDowell was determined to finish the 267-lap race, misfortune struck for Michael Waltrip when the #31 car made contact with his #55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry sending it sailing across the frontstretch grass near Lap 111. Waltrip soldiered on to finish 36th after his car also suffered damage.

NEXT: Following an off week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series invades Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"The Brickyard is one of the most prestigious races on the circuit," McDowell said. "I'm proud to have the opportunity to be there to experience something so great."

Live coverage of the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway begins at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN and 2 p.m. on IMS Radio.

FINAL PRACTICE UPDATE
READY TO RACE

MWR teammate David Reutimann on pole for NNS race tonight

"It's good to go back to tracks a second time especially tracks where I have won at before," McDowell said. "Last year, we won the pole and led every lap to win the ARCA race. We're hoping for a good finish on Saturday."

McDowell also wants to excel at the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval this weekend because he has strong ties to the Chicago area.

"My family is from Chicago," McDowell said. "My dad was born there and my grandfather still lives there. It's always nice to go back to see everyone."

Before traveling to Chicago to visit his family, McDowell is testing at Kentucky Speedway today.

"We are testing today at Kentucky Speedway before Chicago," McDowell said. "Kentucky is very similar to Chicagoland Speedway. The shapes are alike. The biggest difference will be the tires. Otherwise, we hope to learn some things that will transfer over to this weekend."

The Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender admits there is still work to be done on Michael Waltrip Racing's intermediate track program.

"The 1.5-mile tracks have been one of our weak points," McDowell said. "I have not been able to test much because Kentucky has had so much rain and that has hindered our tests. Also, when we were gearing up for the new season, we put a lot of emphasis on speedway cars to make the Daytona 500. Now, we are trying to catch up."

There still have been noteworthy finishes according to McDowell.

"David Reutimann had a top-10 finish in the #44 UPS Toyota Camry at Lowe's Motor Speedway, which is a 1.5-mile quad-oval," McDowell said. "He had a strong showing. Also, Michael Waltrip has had a couple of good runs. We've just got to build on that and make our program stronger. We need a good finish this weekend."