NASCAR Cup Series
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
Team Chevy Driver Quotes
June 13, 2025
Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series race weekend at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Media Availability Quotes:
Michael, how did you start processing and preparing for this weekend in Mexico City? Just what is the process to get yourself ready to make your first lap start in just a few minutes?
“Yeah, I think that you started looking at the layout, configuration and things like that months ago. As far as, putting pen to paper and kind of drawing out your game plan — whether it’s time on simulation at the GM Tech Center, those things, I would say probably about a month ago it all started. And then kind of ramped up each week a little bit more and a little bit more because you’re still getting ready for Charlotte, Nashville, Michigan and all those things. We kept working Mexico in, Mexico in. So, yeah, I would say it’s been about a month, as far as that goes.
And then just in general, just trying to think about how to approach it… what other road courses is it close to? What are the curves going to be like? You know, all those things. You’re trying to put pieces together that you don’t know until you can physically see it and touch it. But, yeah, it’s been fun to get here I’m glad it’s finally here and looking forward to it.”
As somebody who is so proficient on road courses, how exciting is it to come here and get on this road course that’s used by Formula 1? Do you enjoy going to the new road courses and the challenge that that presents?
“Yeah, I love it. You know, obviously I’m biased because road racing is kind of my thing and I love it and we know that those are opportunities for us. But also, too, it’s not as intimidating to me getting into the rhythm and learning new tracks and things like that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s easy. I’m not trying to portray that. But it’s kind of like Kyle Larson going to a dirt track tonight. He figures it out really fast. I feel like road courses are a little bit like that for me, where I can get acclimated pretty quickly and pretty comfortable, and so it’s fun. Any time that you go somewhere new is fun because you know that it’s the same for everybody and that it’s kind of like starting from ground zero. Some of us do have experience here, but track configuration has changed and a lot has changed since we ran here.
So yeah, that part of it is exciting. And for me, any time that they add a road course to the schedule, I’m excited. This is a big weekend for all of us.”
What do you expect out of this weekend, and what is your favorite thing about Mexico?
“So my favorite thing about Mexico — it’s been 20 years since I’ve raced here, but it’s the fans. I just know how Sunday is going to be. It’s incredible energy and incredible atmosphere. It feels like a festival and a concert and a race all happening at one time. Like I said, it was 20 years ago when I was here. But at the time, Luis Diaz and Mario Dominguez were racing, and those guys were heroes. Like every time they went into a corner, you heard the crowd cheer. And wherever they walked, the crowd went nuts. And I’m just like, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like for Daniel (Suarez) on Sunday… I really can’t. It’s going to be wild. But just the energy that the fans have here is electric.
You know, the challenges with the race course and all those things is — road courses for us, everybody’s super aggressive and there’s long straightaways. You get brake zones. There’s going to be opportunities for chaos, and we usually find a way to create it. So, you know, that’s what you get nervous about. That’s the challenges, is that you keep putting together a perfect race, and you’ll be having a great weekend and just, you know, get wiped out. Those are the concerns you have going into it.”
How important is it for the NASCAR Cup Series Series to take the show here in Mexico and to the world stage in general?
“Yeah, really important. I think that, I mean I want to be careful because I know people will take a little soundbite, but we have some of the best racing in the world, if not the best racing, when it comes to side-by-side passes, passing for the lead. And I think that the product that we put on and the race that we put on, we should be on a global stage, and this is that first step for us to do that. I hope that in the future, we’ll continue to make those advancements because I feel like our sport is cool and big enough and exciting enough to pull that off. And you just see the momentum. That’s what I’m wanting to see there, you know, with INDYCAR. Yes, our racing is different, but I believe that when you sit in the stands, we put on a better show.”
You never know with the mountains here. There’s a lot of rain in the forecast, and you’re familiar with that, as well. Are you pro-racing in the rain or anti-racing in the rain?
“I’m neutral. I don’t mind it if it rains. I like driving in the rain. I like racing in the rain. It does add challenges and it adds variables that sometimes are controllable and sometimes are not controllable. What I don’t love is mixed, and a lot of times that’s what we get, right? It’s usually that they’re just straightforward… this is going to be a rain race or a dry race. So I don’t mind it. I don’t mind it. I actually look forward to it.
I hope that we get a rain session today and a dry session today… get one of both so we can be prepared. But the fun part about racing in the rain is your ability, the driver’s ability, to find grip and to find the right line and to miss the puddles and to extract the most out of the car in a really difficult situation. And so I enjoy the challenge of it. Probably what I don’t enjoy is no different than we talked about in the dry, is somebody locking up hydroplaning at the end of the straightaway and wiping you out when you’re having a good day. Those are the variables you can’t control. But we’re ready for each and every situation. I think our cars handle well in the rain. The Next Gen cars have done well in the rain. It’s not the hydroplaning and all those things. It just depends on how much water there is. The drainage is pretty good here in most areas. There’s a few areas that looked like they were creating some puddles, but I feel like overall, we should be able to do both well.”
Michael, what are the areas you feel like you need to be good at here and what are the compromises you have to make on track to be good in those areas?
“You want to be good in the brake zones just because they’re so important here. Turn One, obviously, 4,000 feet straightaway — you want to be good in brakes into one, into four and again into 11. But a lot of times when you try to put braking potential into the car, you do sacrifice some handling and stability through the esses, in particular. That’s the compromise. The compromise is you want to be strong in both and you don’t want to give up too much. But I feel like the braking zones here are going to be really important.”
Also, you talked about the crowd experience and what it’s like to race here and some of the heroes that have raced here. If you’re running second on Sunday and the No. 99 is in front of you…
“Oh, this is a fun conversation (laughs).
My crew chief and I had a fun conversation about this. I don’t think there’s a good answer to this or a right answer, but AJ (Allmendinger) and I actually spoke about this on the bus this morning, too. We were just having some fun and (Alex) Bowman was on there with us, too. I told him about my experience down here. My experience down here was Timo Glock was my teammate and we had identical cars. They were bright yellow rocket sport cars with a little bit of red on them. They looked identical. Hard to tell the difference between the two cars. Timo spun out Mario Dominguez, I believe. The crowd was chanting. I won’t tell you what they were chanting, but we had to have an escort to get out of here… no joke. Just because I was wearing the same suit and the same car, and so I was reminiscing about that. I was like, you do not want to spin out (Daniel) Suarez as here, I can tell you that. You do not want to do that. That is not a part of your strategy for the weekend.
But my crew chief and I were talking about it and he said, what do you mean? You’re telling me last lap, last corner, you’re not going to move him out of the way? I’m like, no, I’m not. I think that when it comes to that, in the moment, things happen. If you’re side-by-side and you’re racing hard and you’re doing all those things, our sports like that, I’m not going to give up a win. You guys know how much wins mean in this sport and getting into the playoffs and everything that comes with it. You’re never going to lay over for anybody. At the same time, I’m not going to go out of my way to rough him up, that’s for sure. I think that goes the same for everybody. I think that’s part of the weird etiquette at road course racing. Daniel and I have had great battles at road course racing. Him and I battled at Sonoma the time that he won. There’s moments in there where I wish I could go back and be like, oh man, if I just came off the brake and got in front of him, I think I would have gotten the lead. He was the guy that I passed for the Indy win. If you guys remember, he was leading and I passed him to take the win. I think him and I have a high level of mutual respect. We’re both guys that go for it. If we’re in that situation, that’s great. That means we had a great day and we’re racing for the win, but I would be careful. I think that’s the best way to say it. It’s not the safety part of it. This is a great opportunity, an unbelievable opportunity. I think everybody knows that and sees that.”
There’s an extreme elevation difference here. Have you and the team prepared any differently for the extreme difference?
“Yeah, for sure. There’s a lot of effort that’s gone into it. Obviously, you’re not going to change the altitude.
We knew what it was going to be before we got here. The teams have been working hard on cooling and preparing for that, as far as engines and brakes. With the air density, that’s a big part of it. It’s just super inefficient here. You’re losing close to 30% of your efficiency of cooling. That’s definitely a concern for everybody and something that’s been on everybody’s minds.
When it comes to the driver and the altitude training, there’s a lot of different strategies and a lot of different philosophies. I, by no means, feel like the scientist that has got it right, but I’ve been here a few times and I’ve experienced it a few times, so I know what works for me. It is a challenge. Honestly, it’s part of the reason why I decided not to run the Xfinity race was because I felt like this is a really physically demanding weekend, getting acclimated to the altitude and road racing in general. Yes, extra laps and extra seat time would be great to be more familiar, but I felt like you’re going to be at your limit on Sunday and I want to make sure that I have the best possible day of the week.”
Is there anything you’ve changed in your prep for the race with elevation, but specifically to get more acclimated to the racing on Sunday?
“I mean, we increased things, but nothing changed dramatically. I mean, we did do some different things as far as — I mean, I won’t tell you, we did some things to train for it, but I feel like everybody’s probably done some version of what they feel like to help them get acclimated. But I feel like nutrition and sleep and hydration and supplementation is a big part of it, too, and I feel like I have that worked out for me.
We’ll see. Sunday, if you go to interview me after the race and I can’t breathe, you know that I didn’t do a very good job.”
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