NASCAR Cup Series: 5 playoff drivers who are in jeopardy
By Asher Fair
NASCAR playoff drivers in jeopardy: No. 4 – Michael McDowell
Michael McDowell secured his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory as well as his first playoff spot by winning last year’s season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
The 2021 season ended up being a career year for McDowell, who set a new career-high with five top 10 finishes and finished in 16th place in the championship standings.
While he has flown under the radar for much of the 2022 season and was never really in contention to qualify for the playoffs on points (even before his 100-point penalty after the race at Pocono Raceway), he has backed up his 2021 performance with another career year.
The driver of Front Row Motorsports’ #34 Ford has already doubled his career-high single-season top 10 finish total with 10, and the regular season hasn’t even concluded.
To put that in perspective, only nine drivers have more than 10 top 10 finishes this year, and only three others are tied with McDowell in that category. All 12 of those drivers are currently in the provisional playoff picture.
But what he hasn’t done is win, and he’ll need to do so to get to the playoffs.
Before the season started, the veteran told Beyond the Flag that Front Row Motorsports were poised to “shock a lot of people” to start the Gen 7 era, and he has backed that up. Can he further do so by locking up a second career playoff spot with a second career victory — and at the same location where he locked up his first playoff spot with his first victory last year?