NASCAR: 10 small-team drivers who deserve Danica Patrick’s ride
By Asher Fair
#5 – Michael McDowell, Leavine Family Racing, No. 95 Chevrolet
From #5 all the way through #2, these four drivers are all currently higher than Danica Patrick in the championship standings despite that none of them drive for a team anywhere near as good as the team she drives for in Stewart-Haas Racing.
Michael McDowell, 32, like many of the other drivers already mentioned in this article, has driven for team after team after team in his NASCAR Cup Series career. In his nine previous seasons in the sport, he has never driven a full season, although that appears as though it will change this season, as he hasn’t missed any of the 23 races already contested in 2017.
In the 2008 season, McDowell drove and finished a bunch of races for Michael Waltrip Racing before driving for Prism Motorsports and Tommy Baldwin Racing the following season and failing to finish a single race in eight attempts. In the 2010 season, he also drove for Prism Motorsports in addition to Whitney Motorsports, and he only finished one of the 24 races he contested that season.
In the 2011 season, McDowell finished just two of the 31 races he drove for HP Racing, but he did finish the one race he drove in relief of Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing. The following season, he drove for Phil Parsons Racing and finished just five of the 30 races he contested.
The story of not finishing races continued for McDowell in the 2013 season when he drove for Phil Parsons Racing, Front Row Motorsports and Phoenix Racing, and he finished just seven of the 33 races he contested. However, he did secure his first career top 10 finish with a 9th place finish at the Daytona 500 driving for Phil Parsons Racing.
Finally in the 2014 season, McDowell got himself a ride with the team he still drives for today, and that team is Leavine Family Racing, where he has not had any real issues finishing races on a regular basis. He recently recorded his career-high Cup Series finish driving for this team at Daytona with a 4th place effort, a finish better than Patrick’s career-high of 6th place for Stewart-Haas Racing.
McDowell has four other top 10 finishes in his 236 career Cup Series races, three of which coming since he began driving for his current team. While he hasn’t quite been as productive as Patrick has over the course of her career, the fact that he is as close as he is with a career-high finish better than hers despite the fact that he has driven for teams nowhere near the level of Stewart-Haas Racing illustrates why he is more deserving of her ride in the #10 Ford than she is.
Also, so far this season, no driver has completed more laps and more miles than McDowell has. Now that he has a car that he can actually finish races with, he hasn’t been a bad driver at all. Now imagine what would happen if he actually drove for a top-tier organization.