McDowell aiming to prove worth at Cup level for MWR

LAS VEGAS -- Michael McDowell hasn't made a Sprint Cup start but don't confuse his lack of seat time in NASCAR's top series with inexperience.

McDowell's resume is plenty impressive: a go-karting national championship, Star Mazda rookie of the year and North American champion, a victory at Mexico City in the Rolex Sports Car Series, two Champ Car top-12 finishes at age 20, ACRA rookie of the year.

Fans may not recognize the newest face in the Sprint Cup garage -- hired by Michael Waltrip to drive the No. 00 Toyota when David Reutimann replaces Dale Jarrett in the No. 44 at Martinsville -- but McDowell hopes that will change quickly.

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For now, he's just trying to get acclimated -- and figure out what time zone he's in.

"It's been a tough week for me," McDowell said during a break in Tuesday's test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I did the [Rolex 24 at Daytona] over this past weekend and got here at 2 in the morning and then was back at the track at 6.

"I was pretty worn out [Monday]. I had never been to this place before. It's been a little bit of a learning experience."

McDowell's No. 1 priority this week is driving the team's fourth car. McDowell was 47th of the 75 cars which completed at least one lap in Tuesday morning's session. His best lap was 180.977 mph, quite a bit slower than Carl Edwards' quick lap of 184.256, but McDowell realizes that he's out here to run consistent laps.

"I'm here with the test team and we're running through a lot of big suspension and geometry setup stuff, more so than the other three teams," he said. "When you look at the board, there's all these guys that you grew up watching and you've always kind of dreamed of getting to this point.

"It's neat to watch, but at the same time, I'm here to do a job and so I'm concentrating on that. I'm trying to get as much information as we can over the next couple of days. We'll take that to California and see if we can't learn even more."

McDowell caught Waltrip's eye while driving for Eddie Sharp's ARCA team. That led to a three-race Busch Series audition at the end of the 2007 season -- including a best of 14th at Phoenix. McDowell apparently impressed the owner well enough to earn a promotion.

He said he hasn't sat down and compiled a list of goals for the season, but keeping the No. 00 in the top 35 would have to be high on that list.

"I really haven't sat down and said, 'This is what we want to accomplish,'" McDowell said. "It's kind of an open book right now. The first thing we want to accomplish is getting all three cars into the top 35 -- and that's something that will hopefully be done before I get in. If not, that's the goal.

"There's a great rookie class and I'd like to lead that class, if we're in a position to do that. I just want to learn as much as I can, stay out of trouble and earn the respect of the team and the other drivers in the series. Just build toward the future."

For now, McDowell's living his dream -- but he's well aware that reality may be right around the next corner.

"It's great to be here now but in three months, if I don't perform, I'll be gone that quick," he said. "I really haven't let it sink in that I've arrived, because I haven't arrived. I've been given an opportunity and I've got to prove myself in that opportunity before I can say I've arrived."