Track: Texas Motor Speedway, 1.5 Mile Tri-Oval
Race: 18 of 36
Event: O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (501 miles, 334 laps)
Michael McDowell
No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Speedco Ford Mustang
Started: 34th
Finished: 15th
Stage One: 26th
Stage Two: 27th
Stage Three: 15th
Michael McDowell and his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Speedco Ford Mustang took the green flag from the 34th position on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Under the Competition Caution, McDowell told the team that his Love’s Travel Stops | Speedco Ford Mustang was “bouncing pretty good through 3 and 4 over the bumps” and would pit for 2 tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. With less than 20 laps remaining in Stage 1, McDowell would pit under green for fuel only and would go on to finish Stage 1 from the 26th position. Under the Stage 1 caution, he noted that his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Speedco Ford Mustang was “really tight in traffic” and pitted for 4 tires, fuel, a packer and wedge adjustment.
The caution flag would fly early in Stage 2 and McDowell would pit for 4 tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Later in the stage, as the laps began to wind down, the yellow flag would fly again and Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer would call the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Speedco Ford Mustang down pit road for 4 new tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment. McDowell would go on to finish Stage 2 from the 27th position. Under the Stage 2 caution, McDowell pitted for 4 tires, fuel, and wedge, track bar and packer adjustments.
In the final stage of Sunday’s 500-mile race, Michael McDowell and the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Speedco team battled hard both on track and pit road to make adjustments and find speed. The team would rally their way to a Top-15 finish, taking the checkered flag from the 15th position at Texas Motor Speedway.
McDowell on Texas:
“That was a long and hot day at Texas Motor Speedway. I’m really proud of my team; they did a great job. We started off really rough and the car was bouncing really bad over the bumps through Turns 3 and 4, but luckily Drew and the guys were able to work on it and get some good adjustments in; move some packer around and finally get it to where the car stopped bouncing and we were okay. From there, we were able to get back on the lead lap and come out with a Top-15. I really appreciate everyone at Love’s Travel Stops for coming on board today and I appreciate everyone that has been working on our No. 34 Ford Mustang at Front Row Motorsports. We battled hard today for 500 miles and got a good finish.”
