Michael McDowell started 25th for the 67th running of the Daytona 500 and quickly advanced the No. 71 Go Bowling Chevrolet ZL1 to 17th after a 10-lap green-flag run. A four-hour rain delay put a damper on the day's festivities, but racing resumed as darkness encroached upon Daytona International Speedway. Strategy placed the father-of-five at the rear of the field for the majority of Stage One. After beginning Stage Two in the 21st position, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion cycled to eighth and led his first lap of the day on Lap 91. The 41-year-old restarted 20th in the Final Stage, visiting pit road for the final time with 36 laps remaining to top off on fuel. After setting the race's fastest lap at a speed of 199.292mph, McDowell was positioned for a strong finish when a red flag was issued with four laps to go due to a multi-car incident. On the ensuing restart, McDowell navigated the late-race carnage to secure an 11th-place finish.
Michael's Post-Race Comments
Not the result we wanted, but I'm so thankful for everyone at Go Bowling. We ended up 11th; it just wasn’t what we needed tonight. We had a fuel pump issue early on but were able to manage that. We lost track position, but in the end, the inevitable chaos broke out. While it's not the finish we wanted, we are happy about a clean finish and bringing home our No. 71 Go Bowling Chevrolet in one piece to improve on. I’m thankful for everyone and their effort in our first showing as a group, and I'm looking forward to Atlanta next week.