Mechanical issues thwarted a promising effort for Michael McDowell and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports team in Sunday’s Chicago Street Race.
McDowell started second and led each of the opening 31 laps of the Grant Park 165 after passing polesitter Shane van Gisbergen in the opening corner. But an issue with his throttle cable sent him to pit road under the third caution period of the 75-lapper, dropping the 2021 Daytona 500 champion from race-winning contention.
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The team was forced to go behind the wall to a designated area to work on the car under NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy.
“We’re gonna have to drive to DVP here to go work on our throttle pedal cable,” crew chief Travis Peterson radioed to McDowell. “We’re gonna have to do it over there. That’s where the part is, and it’s gonna take forever to get this fixed for the car.”
McDowell is a two-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, most recently earning a victory in August 2023 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He drove the No. 71 Chevrolet to the Stage 1 victory in Sunday’s race in Chicago to score Spire Motorsports its first stage win.
The No. 71 car returned to the race at Lap 57 and finished 32nd, 22 laps behind race-winner van Gisbergen.
“The throttle cable just broke,” a dejected McDowell said post-race. “I don’t know what caused it or how it got to that spot, but that’s what happened. I feel like we had control of the race the whole race. I think it would have been a battle, no doubt. I felt like any time I needed to open a gap on SVG, I could. We were just working on our strategy. We knew we were going to one-stop it, so I was taking care of the tires and doing all the things I could.
“I was behind the pace car, and the throttle stuck wide-open. Luckily, I got to the switches fast enough before I ran into something, and then a cable broke after that. It’s just a shame. We had a great car. We’ve got some good momentum heading into Sonoma, and we know what we’ve got to do.”
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McDowell exits Chicago 24th in the provisional playoff standings, 77 points out of the 16-driver postseason grid with seven races remaining in the regular season. A victory would propel McDowell into the playoffs. His next opportunity comes Sunday at Sonoma Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But he believes his best chance yet was this weekend in Chicago.
“I know what would have happened. We would have won the race,” McDowell said.