MICHAEL'S RACING HISTORY

 

Growing up in Glendale, Arizona, Michael McDowell started racing go-karts at the age of eight-years-old. During his 10-year karting career, Michael collected an impressive 18-consecutive feature race wins, a World Karting Association Championship, and back-to-back International Kart Federation Championships.

 

In his early teens, transitioning from go-karts to larger open-wheel cars, Michael continued to set the racing world on fire by winning the 2002 Formula Renault USA Championship in his inaugural season. The following year (2003), Michael made his Star Mazda Series (known today as the USF 2000 Championship) debut, earning two wins, three poles, and Rookie-of-the-Year honors. Hungry for more, the young driver returned to the Star Mazda Series the following season and captured a total of nine poles, seven victories, and the 2004 Star Mazda Championship. In 2013, Michael was inducted into the Road to Indy Hall of Fame for his impressive 2004 Star Mazda Series Championship campaign.

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Continuing to climb the professional racing ladder, Michael made his Champ Car (known today as Indy Car) debut in 2005, where he competed in two races for RocketSports Racing: Surfers Paradise, Australia (finished 12th) and Mexico City, Mexico (finished 11th).

 

From 2005 to 2007, Michael competed in the Grand-Am Cup Series, earning one win and multiple podiums, but most notably became the first driver (at the time) since Mario Andretti to compete in both an open-wheel as well as a sports car race in the same race weekend (2005, Mexico City, Mexico).

 

Michael took his driving talents to the world of stock car racing in 2007 to compete full-time in the ARCA (Menards) Series. In his rookie season, he finished runner-up in the overall championship points standings with a total of four wins, nine poles, and Rookie-of-the-Year honors. Michael also received the opportunity to compete in a handful of NASCAR Truck and Xfinity Series events in 2007, and after an impressive performance, his talents began to get noticed. In 2008, Michael was hand-picked by Michael Waltrip Racing to compete full-time at NASCAR’s biggest stage — the NASCAR Cup Series.

 

Since his 2008 NASCAR Cup Series rookie season, Michael McDowell is now a 17-year NASCAR Cup Series veteran driver, to which 2024 marks his seventh-consecutive season piloting the flagship No. 34 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports. Michael won the 2021 Daytona 500, the 2023 Brickyard 200, has made two NASCAR Cup Series Playoff berths (2021 and 2023), and looks to add more wins as well as another playoff berth to the list in 2024.