Have you ever heard that saying about opinions? Well I have one for you. Since the word came that Michael McDowell would be pulled out of the #00 MWR car for three races, message boards have been a buzz with negativity about the young driver. The criticism though is unfair. While his performance this season has not been championship caliber, it is not as abysmal as it could have been. Given his present situation I would say he has performed above expectations. Before we get ahead of ourselves though, lets travel back in time.
Let us consider where McDowell was, just one short year ago. He was driving an ARCA car for Eddie Sharp Racing (pretty good equipment, but certainly not the best) competing for the championship against Frank Kimmel. Had it been any other year, he may just have won that championship, but Kimmel was on a role and he had Ford backing him up. McDowell finished the season second in points, with four wins under his belt. Pretty impressive for a guy in his first full season in ARCA.
2007 also brought three starts in the Nationwide Series and one truck series race. All four starts came in Michael Waltrip owned cars (Waltrip signed McDowell after seeing his talent in ARCA), his best finish of 14th came at the Nationwide race in Phoenix.
After making two Nationwide starts earlier this season, McDowell was thrown into the Cup series replacing the void left by former series champion, Dale Jarrett. In 17 starts so far this season, McDowell has an average start of 32.1 and an average finish of 31st. He sits 36th in owner standings, eight points out of 35th. To his credit McDowell has not missed a single race this season.
Compared to his MWR teammates McDowell is sitting the lowest in the standings, but not by much. David Reutimann is the highest in 28th, while Michael Waltrip is 33rd. Reutimann has the highest average finishing position at 25.2 and Waltrip is just ahead of McDowell with an average finish of 29.5. It is certainly not too impressive that the owner of the team sits just three positions away from his young driver in owner points and has an average finish just a position and a half better.
Now the decision from Waltrip is to pull McDowell out of the car for three races, replacing him with Mike Skinner (who by the way has an average finishing position of 30.8 in the Cup series this season), to reevaluate the team and improve their position. Earlier this year, Team Red Bull Racing made a similar move with AJ Allmendinger, pulling him out of the car (replacing him with Skinner) for six races to reevaluate the team. This move made sense as Allmendinger had already completed a full season, failing to qualify for more races than he competed in (19 to 17) and then putting up a less than spectacular showing this year. That team needed further consideration and time to regroup; something was not working. In this case though, McDowell, who has had very little NASCAR experience, has not missed a single race since he has been in the #00, beginning in Martinsville. Pulling him out of the car for three races is only going to hinder his growth as a driver, not to mention Skinner is not likely to do much better than McDowell would have.
So now McDowell finds himself at a crossroad. He was thrown to the wolves with very little experience. Unfortunately, one full season in ARCA (no matter how well you did) does not make you qualified to compete in NASCAR’s most elite series. McDowell needed and still needs time in a lower series to gain experience. He clearly has a lot of talent, but is not in a very good situation. When more experienced drivers like Reutimann and Waltrip are not competing in the team’s equipment, how can they expect their rookie driver to be any better?
McDowell’s best option at this point is to run as far and fast away from MWR as he possibly can. The equipment is subpar, and the management has made some very questionable decisions over the last two seasons. And as far as sponsorship goes, the #00 is currently without any sponsorship (that I know of) for next season, and Reutimann only has part time sponsorship with Aaron’s. Waltrip’s own ride is the only one completely funded for next year.
Given more time driving in the Nationwide or Truck Series I think McDowell could do very well in Cup. However, making the decision to step down to a lower series, is a difficult one. His future is riding on what he decides to do in the coming months. Staying with MWR only furthers the risk that his career will be driven beyond the point of salvage. The driver with so much promise faces becoming only another blip in NASCAR history.
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on Aug 14th, 2008 at 12:15 am
From what I’ve heard, nascar contracts heavily favor owners. When you say McDowell should run as far as he can, do you think he can actually do that under the terms of his deal? How does that work?
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 7:08 am
You guys are usually on the mark but you missed it here. McDowell gets no credit for making all of the races thus far because he’s been in the top-35. He was only in the top-35 from the points that Reutimann earned in the 00.
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 7:15 am
I agree that McDowell should run from MWR. Last year the team could use the “toyotas are new” excuse but not anymore. Look at JGR, they seem to have no problem, granted they have about 10 metric tons more talent. I feel the root of this is deeper. NASCAR needs to get the cup drivers out of the nationwide series!!! These kids never have a chance to shine. The nationwide only teams cannot possibly compete with cup funded teams. When the NW boys are running for 10th in points their is a problem. How can they gain confidence when they have zero chance of winning each week? You don’t see A-Rod out playing AAA ball on his days off. NASCAR should be no different. Give these kids a chance to shine and they may surprise us.
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 8:09 am
In 17 races McDowell has only had to qualify for 2. One of those qualifying was rained out and the other one he only had to beat one guy. To compare that to Allmendinger is absurd. Allmendinger never had a car in the top 35 in OP and had to earn it.
McDowell had 15 races before he fell out to practice qualifying, while AJ never had that security.
I agree that one good season in ARCA does not make you qualified to run in Cup. Also 5 starts in the NW series and 1 truck start does not make you qualified to run in Cup. ARCA racing is nowhere near the level of competition you are going to find in NASCAR, even in the truck series. These young drivers need more experience in a heavy car with top competition before they are thrown into a Cup ride.
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Thanks everybody for taking the time to comment! More than anything McDowell has been able to keep that car up front, in the top 35 for the most of the season. While obviously it is easier to start from that position, if you cannot keep it there, there is a good chance you will not be making races. After six races Reutimann was 25th in points, only 111 points from 36th place. In just a couple of races, McDowell could have easily been out and that did not happen.
As far as the Allmendinger comparison, this was a comparison of their individual reevaluation periods and why one needed to happen over another. This was not a comparison of their talent as drivers, or their stats. Obviously Allmendinger was in a little tougher situation.
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Does anyone remember Joey Miller ? rookie of the year in ARCA a few years ago won quite a few races his only year in ARCA next year hes racing in a truck for Darrel Waltrip that team folds mid - season and i havent heard of Joey since hope the same thing dont happen to Michael NAPA gave Mikey one more year to get to the front or no more NAPA for him he needs to merge with a good team Mikey needs all the help he can get with that team If i was Mcdowell id be going hunting and fishing with Childress all i could
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Ok everyone cut the kid a break and cut MWR a break. Both the driver and the team are new to Cup Racing. Cal Wells stated that HE made a hugh mistake putting Mc Dowell in a Cup ride so quick, MWR beinng a fairly new company is doing much better then several other cup teams that have been around for several decades. MWR is growing and learning and will continue to learn over the next several years. When MWR chose their drivers this year MW has never been a championship driver, David Ruitaman ran Trucks for 1-2 years, Dale Jarrett was well past his prime. There are several factors that will change as the team grows and matures. Look at Haas CNC, Look at the DLP 96 team, look at the Wood Brothers. How long have these teams been around? Combined roughly 60 years. MWR is not a Championship caliber team, but they are not a back markers either. It will take them several years to grow and become a championship caliber team if they make it. Don’t judge them based on trying to make their team better. Some make it, some don’t Give them all a break. Cup is the toughest series in the world to survive in.
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I dont know how many listen to the Sirius show The Late Shift with Rick Benjamin and Buddy Baker. The other night they had McDowell on and one of the questions asked was “Was the desision to pull you out for three races MWR or Toyota’s?” It was then said that it was Toyota who arranged that Skinner help Red Bull and AJ.
McDowell was cought off guard by this question and said he would not really comment on that, but that the team as a whole thought this would be a good chance to evaluate MWR and look at their equipment and see how they are doing things. McDowell then said we cant blame Toyota, because obviuosly Gibbs has figured this out.
The next question was ” Is Toyota asking the teams to work together like they did in the Truck series when they first entered that series?” Once again McDowell said they would have to ask my boss. He did say “Well you can see that Gibbs has this figured out and yet we and a few others are strugling. So you figure it out if these teams are sharing info. I know if I was doing good I would not want to help anyone else”.
They then wished him good luck and said they hoped to see McDowell in the car in three weeks. McDowell said thanks and thats the plan, but I will not really know my future with the team until they tell me what we are doing next.
After McDowell hung up Buddy made the comment “If I was that kid I would not be sitting around these next few weeks waiting for that call. I would be out seeing what else is out there. He got a bright future.” Buddy said it rare that a driver gets pulled and then is given the wheel back. It happend for AJ, but I would not be waiting around.”
on Aug 15th, 2008 at 11:12 am
If I was McDowell, I would “get out of Dodge” just as soon as possible, just as Baker said. He is with a “mickey mouse” organization ,Point Blank. Even if he went to a lower series, he will be much better off in the long run, and possibly get some real coaching to boot. MWR does’nt need Skinner to evaluate their program. I’ll do it for free. Go ahead & guess my findings. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist either.