Michael McDowell Kisses The Bricks At Indy (8-13-23)
Headline Photo Credit: Mike Divino-USA Today
We head to Indy for the Road Course which is sure to bring plenty of entertainment. The field is full of regular drivers but also has brought multiple international drivers. Daniel Suarez will lead us to the green flag. William Byron will have to come down for a pass-through penalty for a party of his three failures of inspection. Lap one went pretty smoothly but we cannot say the same for lap two. Joey Logano gets into Justin Haley and sends him hard into the tire barrier. This will place everyone under caution. At the same time, some contact was made with Kim Kobayashi. We will get a restart and Joey Logano will get into his teammate Ryan Blaney. Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez go to battle for the lead. Michael was able to battle cleanly and get around Daniel Suarez. While Joey Logano was having issues Ty Gibbs was also having issues. He got a bump all of Shane Van Gisbergen’s front end early. Kevin Harvick is our first driver to hit pit road due to not qualifying as he would like so they have to do something different. Our front runners Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, and Chase Elliot stay out for stage points. Michael McDowell will be credited with the stage one win which is Front Row Motorsports’ first stage win.
The race does continue and drivers continue to cycle through pit stops. We did see multiple speeding penalties: Jensen Button, Mike Rockenfellow, and Corey LaJoie. Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell both came down at the same time. Michael McDowell was extremely conservative and Daniel slowed down just at the line. This allowed Daniel to make up and pass Michael McDowell. How long they will run like this will be determined once all drivers finalize pitting. Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski decided to stay out to truly push the envelope with fuel. There is a four-wide battle coming down to the unofficial end of stage two. Denny Hamlin will get stage two.
However, Michael McDowell was able to pass Daniel Suarez. With them continuing into stage three Michael McDowell continues to lead the way. Chase Elliott has some issues with the rear making the corners and Daniel Suarez behind him. They make contact not once but twice. The second time was enough to Chase Elliott somewhat into the grass. Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, and Daniel Suarez all come down the pit road at the same time. Daniel has a horrible stop due to a hose getting stuck under the car. This puts Daniel out third and Michael McDowell and Chase Elliott right up front. Chase Elliott tries to cut into Michael McDowell’s lead. In certain places, it is cut down and in others, it has extended. There is also a tight battle between Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez. They have a huge battle and even some dirty tires. Michael McDowell’s team is telling their spotter to make sure they are telling lap traffic to move. Here in the closing lap Chase Elliott has gained as much as possible. He was roughly a second faster than Michael closer to the end but did not quite catch up. Michael McDowell will get the unofficial win at the Indy road course.
