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Michael McDowell relishes return to Daytona 500 as champion

Michael McDowell relishes return to Daytona 500 as champion

McDowell, 37, earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory with his shocking win in the 2021 Daytona 500, which propelled him to the playoffs and a career-best 16th-place finish in the series standings.

“The last few weeks with getting ready for the 500 and all the media and all the preseason stuff, it is fun. It is fun being the Daytona 500 champion coming to Daytona,” McDowell said. “It has been a cool experience.

“I feel like there are times in the season last year where, not like you forget, but you just get back into the grind and things aren’t going all that great and you are kind of riding that season wave. Then in the off-season, and getting ready for this, it was a lot of fun because everyone wants to talk about winning the Daytona 500.

“It brings back a lot of great memories.”

It didn’t take long for McDowell to again grab the spotlight at Daytona once Tuesday night’s first practices of the 2022 season got underway.

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