Top Dog: Michael McDowell
Pit strategy can turn anyone’s day around. Especially at a track like Richmond Raceway.
It can change anyone’s day in the blink of an eye if everything falls into place.
Coming off a strong comeback last weekend at Circuit of the Americas, Michael McDowell looked to start a good streak heading into Richmond. Coming into the weekend, his best career Richmond finish was 12th in 2016, the same position he finished in last week at COTA. However, his best finish with Front Row Motorsports coming into this weekend was 21st in 2019.
Starting in 15th due to rain, McDowell would start with considerably better track position compared to his average start of 26.3 over his career at Richmond.
Throughout most of the day, McDowell ran cleanly inside the top 20 and would settle in around 18th place alongside teammate Todd Gilliland.
With about 54 laps to go, what could have been the final round of pit stops started and most everyone would come in except for three: McDowell, Gilliland and Josh Berry. This was most definitely a bold move by the underdog team, withstanding the average yellow flag in the spring Richmond race takes place with around 83 laps to go coming into the race.
It would take a miracle from somebody for McDowell to keep that track position.
With 29 laps to go, McDowell got his wish. Tyler Reddick, who struggled with an ill-handling racecar, spun going into turn 1 on the inside of Kevin Harvick, allowing the strategy to work perfectly for the three gamblers. McDowell would settle in fifth at the time of caution but fall back to ninth after final pit stops.
After a spin by William Byron on the restart, McDowell would make his way back to seventh and on the final run, the 38-year-old from Phoenix, Ariz. would pass a contender for the win, Martin Truex Jr., for sixth and hold off Joey Logano for the spot, slicing his career-best finish at the track in half.
Capturing his season-best finish was exactly what McDowell and his team needed for keeping it close in the points standings. His top-10 result improves his average finish for the year to a respectable 17.6, and McDowell looks to continue the streak of good finishes heading into Bristol dirt next weekend.
Who Impressed
There was a quartet of drivers that impressed at Richmond.
Gilliland fought back early after receiving an early pit-road penalty in the race at the competition caution for equipment interference. The driver of…
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