McDowell hopes to hold serve for Penske

“I’ve been in these sort of high-pressure situations in the past with Joe Gibbs Racing going in over the years,” McDowell said. “There’s a lot at stake, I realize that, and obviously this is a car that’s won four races already this year and runs up front every week. And so the pressure for me is just, I really just take every week the same, I go out there and do the best I can and try to get the most out of the race car that I can, and hopefully the results will come from that.”

With two top-10 finishes in two Nationwide Series starts this season, McDowell has had a welcome respite from finishing outside of the top 20 as so often happens in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ride. McDowell has competed in 13 races in the top national series and earned only two top-20s. In three races, his No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Ford did not qualify. Racing for a small team has presented its challenges, but competing for top teams in Nationwide has kept them from getting to the driver.

“(I’ve) sort of struggled and had to do a lot of things that you wouldn’t think would be ideal in a career: … not have well-funded programs in both the Nationwide and Cup sides,” McDowell said. “And it just made me realize, OK, this is why I stuck in it, and this is why I continue to do what I’m doing — is for an opportunity like this to drive a great race car for a great organization and hopefully get a shot at Victory Lane, you know, it makes it all worth it for sure.”

His opportunities with Penske and Gibbs have been beneficial to the small, single-car organization where McDowell spends most of his time. While Leavine Family Racing continues to battle limited funds and a smaller staff than teams like Penske, who provides its equipment, having the chance to be a part of a winning team brings LFR closer to doing so itself.

“The opportunities that I’ve had over the last three or four years in the Nationwide Series, I feel like is what’s really kept me in this sport, because I got great opportunities to hop in and get top-fives and a couple of runner-up finishes, and it kind of makes you relative in this sport,” McDowell said.

“But more than anything for me was, it wasn’t so much a confidence boost as it was, ‘OK, this is what it needs to feel like, this is where we have to get,’ and it allowed me to go back to my Cup programs a little more focused on, ‘OK, here’s the areas we do well, here’s the areas where they do it better.’ And that’s really helped me be able to bring more to the Cup program.”

MORE: