Michael McDowell / No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota Preview – U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway

Michael McDowell / No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota Preview

U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway  

No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota News & Notes:

·     BACK-TO-BACK RACES HAVE SMILE ON McDOWELL’S FACE:  Michael McDowell knows how important it is to make the most of his opportunities in Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nationwide Series equipment.  That makes the second event of the season at Iowa Speedway the most important so far for “McDriver.”  Why?  Because for the first time this year, McDowell will get a chance to race the No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota for the second-straight week.  McDowell returned to the seat of the No. 18 last weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway, starting ninth and finishing 10th.  Now, he’ll be right back in the seat this weekend in the US Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway.  And ask any aspiring racer, there is nothing better than being behind the wheel of a car consecutive weeks to help with chemistry and confidence.

·     THREE RACES, THREE IMPRESSIVE RUNS FOR McDOWELL & JGR:  So far in 2011, the Michael McDowell/Joe Gibbs Racing relationship has paid off for both parties.  Iowa will mark the fourth race of the year for McDowell in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.  McDowell made his JGR debut at the spring Iowa event, starting second, leading 19 laps and finishing seventh.  Then, Michael got behind the wheel of the No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota at Road America, where he earned his first-career NASCAR Nationwide Series pole and dominated the event, leading 30 of the 50 laps, before getting involved in a late-race accident and finishing 12th.  Michael was back in the car last weekend, piloting the No. 18 to a 10th place finish.  That work has helped Joe Gibbs Racing keep their point lead in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owner’s standings, where they hold a 27-point lead over the No. 32 of Turner Motorsports.  McDowell is scheduled to run two more events this season in the No. 18, including this weekend in Iowa and at Montreal in two weeks.

·     WELCOME BACK TO PIZZA RANCH:  Pizza Ranch, the largest regional pizza restaurant chain in Iowa , Minnesota , North Dakota and South Dakota , will return as sponsor of the No. 18 Toyota this weekend at Iowa Speedway.  Pizza Ranch and Joe Gibbs Racing formed their relationship in 2009 with Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota at Iowa, where the Pizza Ranch team finished a strong second.  Since then, Pizza Ranch has been a sponsor with JGR for a number of races and will continue that relationship into 2011, where they will sponsor the No. 18 in four events; three with Michael McDowell (both Iowa Speedway events and Road American) and one with Kyle Busch (Michigan).  Pizza Ranch specializes in pizza and chicken and has grown steadily with franchises currently in nine states. Pizza Ranch offers a host of dining options to include a pizza/chicken/salad bar buffet, carry-out pizza, or delivery of chicken and pizza to the home. Pizza Ranch puts the customer first with extraordinary hospitality and service.

·     PIZZA RANCH & MICHAEL BUSY IN IOWA:  This weekend will not just be about the racing that takes place on the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway for McDowell. The driver will also participate in a number of events throughout the week in the Des Moines / Newton area.  McDowell and Pizza Ranch will make an appearance at the Nationwide Series Employee event in downtown Des Moines on Thursday, followed by a trip to Blank Children’s Hospital later that afternoon.  Then on Friday, McDowell will make an in-store appearance at the Newton Pizza Ranch location from 12pm-1:30pm.  On Saturday, Pizza Ranch will host in excess of 400 guests at a hospitality area at Iowa Speedway and Michael will make an appearance to talk to the Pizza Ranch employees and guests.

·     CHASSIS:  The JGR team will take chassis #112 to Iowa this weekend.  The chassis was run at Nashville Superspeedway (with Kyle Busch; started sixth and finished second), Iowa Speedway (McDowell; started second, finished seventh) and New Hampshire (Busch; started fifth, finished first).

·     STAT OF THE WEEK:4.0. Michael’s career average starting position prior to the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series season was 25.7.  This season, his average starting position is 4.0.  That stat includes a pole at Road America, where Michael bested the second-place car by nearly a full second.

·     THE RACE:  The U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway (Newton, IA; 0.875-mile oval) is set for Saturday night, August 6th, 2011.  The race will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m. EST, with radio coverage on MRN starting at 7 p.m. EST.    

McDowell’s 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Season Stats: Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 Poles Laps Led Earnings Avg. Start Avg. Finish 3 0 0 2 1 49 $71,039 4.0 9.7   McDowell’s Career NASCAR Nationwide Series Stats: Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 Poles Laps Led Earnings Avg. Start Avg. Finish 75 0 0 8 1 57 $1,832,045 24.5 23.2   McDowell’s Career NASCAR Nationwide Series Stats at Iowa Speedway: Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 Poles Laps Led Earnings Avg. Start Avg. Finish 3 0 0 2 0 19 $75,173 12.3 9.3    

Michael McDowell Quotes: “I think the biggest advantage we’ve got going into this weekend is the fact that we will finally be in the car for back-to-back weekends after our run in Indianapolis.  I just can’t even put into words how big that is for a driver and how important that is for your communication with your team and your confidence.  Just to get the chance to have back-to-back races will help me and will help my communication with Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and the rest of the team. I’ll be fresh behind the wheel, I’ll be fresh with the feel of the car and our team communication will just flow right from last week.  So I’m pretty pumped to get the chance to get right back in the car.  And on top of that, we’ll have only one week off (when Kyle gets back in the No. 18 car at Watkins Glen) and be right back in the car at Montreal.  So the next few weeks are going to be huge.  

“I’m pretty excited to be going back to Iowa too.  That has always been a very good track for me, from the ARCA days to even in my Nationwide Series career.  We were really good there in the first race of the year.  We started up front, led some laps and got a top-10 finish.  Now we are going back with the same car, some good notes and more time working together.  That just means we should even be that much better.  We’ve got a good package to start out with when we unload on Friday.  I am just going to have to work on not giving up the track position, especially with my restarts.  I actually got a chance to talk with Kyle at Indy about some of the things I was doing and some of the stuff he does and he helped me out quite a bit and gave me some advice on what he does compared to what I do.   “I’m also really excited to be back in the Pizza Ranch Toyota.  Pizza Ranch is a great company and such a pleasure to work with.  We’ve got a lot going on during the week and it should be a lot of fun.  We’ve got some hospitality to do during the weekend and that is always fun, because you get a chance to make these people’s race experience even that much more exciting.  We get to go to the track every week, but for some of these people, they only get to go to one or two races a year, so to be a part of their race experience and help make it that much more enjoyable is awesome.”    

No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota / Joe Gibbs Racing Team   Driver – Michael McDowell                                     Crew Chief – Jason Ratcliff                     Car Chief – Charlie Brock Race Engineer – Matt Lucas                                  Shock Specialist – Brad Rothlin            Front-end Mechanic – Todd Brewer Rear-end Mechanic – Jason Clements                  Tire Specialist – Matt Sauer                  Setup Specialist – Kevin Kelley Engine Tuner – Chris Woodward                          Truck Driver – Dennis Valverde