LONG POND — It has been a breakout season for Spire Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series.
First, Carson Hocevar scored his first career series win at Talladega in April in the No. 77 Chevrolet. Then, three weeks ago at Charlotte, Daniel Suarez posted an emotional victory in the No. 7 Chevrolet just days after the stunning death of Kyle Busch.
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“It’s incredible to see,” said Michael McDowell, the team’s third driver. “I think we all knew it was coming. Maybe not everybody else, but we saw the writing on the wall, the processes being put into place and the people we were able to get to improve the program and keep building on the foundation that was already built. So it’s not a shocker to us, this is what we intended on doing. But it’s fun that it’s actually coming to fruition.”
McDowell hopes he can join the party and will look to do it Sunday at Pocono Raceway in The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by Visit PA. The 100-lap race was scheduled for 3 p.m. but has been moved up to a 1 p.m. start because of inclement weather forecast later in the day.
Through 15 races this season, McDowell has two top-five and three top-10 finishes in the No. 71 Chevrolet. He came close to winning at Watkins Glen, but finished second to Shane Van Gisbergen.
“Honestly, it’s been an up-and-down season. We’ve had some good runs and some not-so-good runs,” McDowell said. “Right now, we’re just trying to find that consistency where we’re putting it together week after week. It feels like two or three races where we’re having some momentum and then we’ll go two or three races where we kind of lose our footing a little bit. Just trying to work out some of the inconsistencies that we have. But overall, really proud of the speed that Spire Motorsports has and the efforts that we’re bringing. It’s just been a little bit of a different season for us trying to lock in on what’s causing those inconsistencies.”
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Seeing his teammates have success doesn’t bother McDowell. He is happy for them and if anything, it shows the potential that the teams and the race cars have.
“For me, it’s not like, ‘Aw (shoot), my teammates are outrunning me,’” McDowell said. “Everything is there to be successful. Now we just need to go put it together. I’ve lived it before. I’ve been on the flip side of running well and a teammate struggling. Now I’m on the other side of it. It’s just a matter of a week or two before that changes. You can’t start doubting the process, you can’t start doubting your ability. You just have to push through those hard seasons and use them to challenge yourself to get better and improve. This is another opportunity for that.”
Pocono is the next chance for McDowell. He enjoys coming to the track and the challenges the 2.5-mile triangular layout presents.
“The race track is awesome, just so unique,” said McDowell, who has two top-10 finishes in 23 Pocono starts. “It’s probably one of my favorites because you have three different corners, long straightaway, lots of passing but you also have some heavy braking, some downshifts. It’s kind of like a mix of a road course, an Indy and a Michigan all at once. It’s just a really cool place and does present a lot of challenges because those three corners are so different, especially when it comes to the setups. But it’s always a good race, always some strategy involved whether it be fuel mileage or whether to take four tires. It always creates some dramatic opportunities and finishes.”
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Actually, the next several races are opportunities for McDowell. After Pocono is the inaugural race in San Diego on Naval Base Coronado, followed by Sonoma. Both are road-course races.
With 11 races left in the regular season, McDowell needs to make up some ground if he hopes to make “The Chase,” the championship postseason over the final 10 races. The top 16 drivers in the standings qualify. McDowell is tied for 20th, 46 points behind 16th-place Austin Cindric.
“We have Pocono and two road courses, so I feel good about our opportunity to go close the gap on the points,” McDowell said. “We are always looking at points, but we’re also at that place where the points will take care of itself of we just kind of clean up some of the issues that we’ve had. We’ve had good speed. We’ve just given up so many points. We’re 46 (points) below the cutline and I can look at the last four weeks and see 46 points that we gave away. We need to clean that up and get some of those points back over the next few weeks. We’ll have some opportunities to do that. From there, it’s just making sure that we execute and not make any mistakes. That’s what it will ultimately come down to.”
Bell to race
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Last week at Michigan, Christopher Bell was involved in a crash with Chase Elliott. The hit his No. 20 Toyota took into the Turn 4 wall was the hardest crash impact in the history of the Next Gen car era.
Bell suffered a broken left wrist in the crash. Despite sporting a black cast Saturday at Pocono, Bell said he plans to race in Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400.
“I didn’t really have any thought of not racing because I’m like, as long as I can hold the steering wheel, I’ll be fine,” Bell said. “Then throughout my simulator sessions, obviously that was a test of like, how am I going to do driving the car? I did fine in the simulator.”
The fact that he walked away with only a broken wrist and a bruised ankle after such a hard hit was remarkable. He said he feels fortunate and blessed that he didn’t suffer a concussion or head injury and is grateful for all the safety advances NASCAR has made over the years.
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“I owe all of the credit to NASCAR and my team for building safe cars,” Bell said. “All of the previous drivers who have paid somewhat of a price to make these cars as safe as they are today, NASCAR from learning from every experience that they’ve had in every moment, every crash; it all paid off last Sunday. So, super grateful and I’m looking forward to putting it behind me for sure.”
