NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHICAGO STREET RACE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
JULY 5, 2025
Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Chicago Street Course.
Media Availability Quotes:
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT A SPECIAL SPONSOR YOU HAVE THIS WEEK AND WHAT YOU THINK OF THE COURSE
“Yeah, it’s great to have DePaul University on the 71 Chevy. You know, obviously a new partnership for us and NASCAR. To have a local brand and a brand that fans recognize, is cool, and it makes coming to this race extra special. Going to get to meet a lot of the DePaul people this weekend starting today and tomorrow and looking forward to that. A unique partnership and glad to be a part of it. As far as the track goes, just like Chase (Elliott) was talking about, everything looks and feels as it has the last two years. Watching this Xfinity practice has definitely given me anxiety. Just because there have been a lot of mistakes and extra, but this track is just like that. You are right at the edge and as you saw, Connor Zilisch, one of the best, make a little bit of a mistake. That can happen so easy here. I mean it’s, there’s spots to this track where it’s very narrow and you feel right on the edge and you are getting as close to that wall as you can and trying not to clip it. It’s just very easy to get it wrong. It’s a tough place. So, I like the challenge, and I feel like it requires you to be aggressive, but also very technical. And I think it separates the good road racers to the guys that are maybe just good at Watkins Glen or Sonoma or places like that.”
HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR CONFIDENCE FROM MEXICO CITY TO HERE?
“I think its interesting. Confidence isn’t something that you can fake or fabricate. For me, it comes from results and analytics and understanding where we are at, and where we are not at. I think Mexico went okay. You know the strategy didn’t work out great for us, but qualified I think in the top three and felt like we were a top three car and ended up finishing fourth or fifth. I don’t know which one. And so we were in the game, but not quite where we wanted to be. But I am optimistic because just like it takes time, and its taking time, to figure out what I need in the 71 car and what package that is going to take. Believe it or not, it’s been different than years past. Mexico was one step forward from COTA where I felt like, ‘hey, I like this, I like that, but I still need to do this, this, this’. And if we can make it do this, we are going to be really good. And so you just keep building that and building that, and its nice to have road courses here, and I don’t want to say back-to-back, because we had a race in between Mexico. But now we go to Chicago, Sonoma and these are our opportunities to try to win. This race has been……I don’t know what the right word is, but with the rain and the dry, it’s been hard to get a rhythm in the race. So, I feel like we have had speed and had opportunities here, and if we catch this strategy right, catch the tires right, and all those things. So, it’s a unique race and I think if you are in the game, like in that top three or top four, you are going to have a shot at it depending on when those cautions fall or if the race gets shortened. There are things that have caught us out the last two years where I felt like we were in contention. So, I like it. I like the challenge of this track, and I like the conditions changing and I feel good about what tomorrow could bring.”
IS THERE MORE STRESS HERE BECAUSE THERE IS NOT MUCH ROOM FOR A RUNOFF HERE AS OPPOSED TO ANOTHER TRACK LIKE WATKING GLEN?
“Oh yeah for sure. I was telling my wife as we were listening and watching practice there, it’s like you roll out to practice, and you want to get into a good rhythm and you want to be close to the limit, but you don’t want to really challenge yourself a ton. Because you see what happens and there is really no time to get a backup ready, and you don’t want to start in the back. There’s just a very condensed schedule. So, I feel like you are at that 80-85% in practice, and you are getting your rhythm, and you are getting your marks, then you are pushing yourself a little bit more and a little bit more, then you go qualify. And you throw all that out the window and just put it on the edge. You have to do that for a few laps here I feel like. So, it is an adrenaline rush, but it is stressful though to answer your question though. You never feel like you put your guard down, you stay very tense, you stay very locked in that high level of concentration because it’s an inch left our right and you miss it. But it’s fun though when you get it right.”
HOW IS THE JELL BETWEEN YOU AND THE TEAM COMING ALONG NOW AT SPIRE?
“Yeah, I think the jell is good, that is fine. I feel like the chemistry is good and keeping Travis Peterson with me is a big part of that. And not just Travis, but the car chief, mechanics and engineers, and the spotter. So, there are multiple guys that have stayed with me and that continuity and chemistry is good and is not really the issue. I think the bigger issue for us, and I wouldn’t even call it that as an issue, but more the growing process of learning new tools and how that correlates to what we are used to. It’s just been a bit of a transition. You know, some of the things that worked for us in the past don’t work as well, and that is surprising. Its not something you would expect, but we have learned through that, and I feel like we have had more ups and downs than we had wanted to, but I also feel like our cars have potential and have speed. I was looking at one of the charts someone posted, and it was like when we finish with no problems, we typically finish in the top 10 and are in contention. Or there are 30s. That has been the struggle this year, we have had a decent amount of mechanical issues, we have had a decent amount of random season racing stuff where you make a mistake or something happens. But on the races where we execute and everything goes pretty well, I feel like we are in that top 10 contention. Now we don’t have a lot of top 10s to show for it, I realize that. I feel like we have like three for four 11th and 12ths that are just right outside the top 10. And I feel like our speed has been there to contend, but there is still a lot to clean up. And it’s hard. Like I said, it’s hard for the number 9 to win races – Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports to win Cup races. Could you imagine how hard it is for the 71 team to win races? It’s tough and this is a tough sport. And you have to have everything go your way. And when you see guys that have done this a long time and won a lot of races, it’s not easy. So, I feel like we are on a good path, and I am very happy with where our program is, and our team is. Obviously, we need a win, and we know that.”
IF THIS IS THE LAST EDITION OF THIS CHICAGO RACE, DID THIS CONCEPT WORK AND WAS COMING HERE A SUCCESS?
“I think it’s been a huge success, especially with some of the adversity that everyone has had to overcome. Whether it be weather, and you guys remember that first year on the Saturday, the amount of people that were coming in here for the concert was insanity and it was going to be a giant success and then obviously the weather and thunderstorms. I think it’s had to go through a lot of adversity, but the race itself and the city and the track and all the things are awesome. I’ve enjoyed the whole process, and I feel like it accomplished what we wanted to accomplish and that is engaging with new fans, bringing the race to the fans and not the fans to the race. I think we have checked all the boxes and honestly until the last two days, maybe it’s because I am not on social media as much or whatever it is, I didn’t know that there is a possibility that it would be the last one. But I am thankful if it is, for the time that we had here and you know I think it has expanded and opened the industry’s eyes as to what we can do well. Right? I mean the Colosseum did that, Bowman Gray did that, and Mexico City. As we do new things more often and people get more comfortable in that uncomfortable space, I feel like our sport will continue to grow and expand. We talked a little bit about that in Mexico. I think we are positioned pretty well to do that and I think we have the right product on the racetrack and we have the right race car to do that and put on a good show. We have the right personalities and drivers to do that as well, so I hope we keep expanding and keep trying new things because I feel like its been a success. I think we need to look at each area geographically and when their rainy season is and when they are not go there during the rain season. We need to head that up. It feels like when we go somewhere new, we are always fighting that weather element. So, I don’t know where that is.
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