After Kaulig Racing decided to part ways with Josh Williams following the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway two weekends ago, they turned to Carson Hocevar to serve as his first replacement behind the wheel of the No. 11 Chevrolet this past weekend at Iowa Speedway.
Now they have turned to a former Daytona 500 winner, one who also competes full-time for fellow Chevrolet team Spire Motorsports in the Cup Series.
Michael McDowell has not competed in an Xfinity Series race since 2016, when he won at Road America for Richard Childress Racing. But after having not competed in the series for nine years after collecting his first career national series win in his 94th Xfinity Series start, it turns out that that triumph will not be his Xfinity Series sendoff.
Michael McDowell joins Kaulig Racing for Watkins Glen
McDowell, who has never before competed for Kaulig Racing, is set to drive the No. 11 car this weekend at Watkins Glen International, where he has a best finish of sixth place in 16 Cup Series starts but has not competed in the Xfinity Series since all the way back in 2009.
Christian Eckes, one of the team's full-time drivers who is still fighting for a playoff spot, is grateful to have the presence of an experienced Cup driver in his garage this week, especially at a track where he personally had not been particularly looking forward to running.
"Yeah, for sure," Eckes told Beyond the Flag in an interview made possible by longtime Kaulig Racing partner Celsius. "Michael's been super helpful this week. He came up on Monday and did some time with me … Just being around him and learning some different things that he's been doing at certain race tracks is definitely an advantage.
"Like I've told everybody the last two weeks, iron sharpens iron. So every time that we can get somebody that's not necessarily better, but has a lot of experience and can get some good reps and stuff in the race car, it pushes me to be better as well. It definitely has been a big advantage the last two weeks."
Matt Kaulig's team's run of bringing in Spire Motorsports drivers to replace Williams is not set to end this weekend either.
Two weekends from now at Daytona International Speedway, Justin Haley is set to make his return to the team for which he competed full-time in the Xfinity Series from 2019 to 2021 and then full-time in the Cup Series in 2022 and 2023. He has not made any Xfinity Series starts since 2023 himself.
Tune in to the CW Network this Saturday, August 9 at 3:00 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Mission 200 at The Glen from Watkins Glen International. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action from Upstate New York!