03-21-2008, 12:39 PM
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 | NASCAR/Motorsports Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Lockhart, TX
Posts: 5,212
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| Re: Michael McDowell (expectations?)
Don't know how much you can read into (or out of) this excerpt from an interview posted on his website Michael McDowell:, but Michael seems to have his head on right. Still, the proof is in the pudding, as they say. Quote: How ready do you feel making the jump into the Sprint Cup Series?
“By no means have I underestimated the challenges ahead of me. This is the best series in the world with the best drivers. I didn’t come to Michael Waltrip saying that I was ready to drive a Cup car -- that’s not how it came together. That was the seat that was available and we want to build toward the future. I think we know going into it that it’s going to take time for me to get up to speed. We have a new crew chief on board with Bill Pappas, who comes from open wheel racing and he and I are just learning each other. We know that it’s a process that’s going to take time, on the same side we all know that you’re not going to be able to run in the back for too long before they get rid of you. I know when I get out there I need to get going as quick as possible, but the number one goal is to stay in the top-35 and keep the car in the top-35 -- hopefully we’ll go to Martinsville in the top-35.”
Who has the mentor been for you in this transition?
“Like I said in the past, I have the best scenario ever -- I have two guys with championships, race wins and lots of experience with both Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett and they’ve been great. But I also have David Reutimann, who went through last year what I’m going to be going through now. He knows the type of pressure that I’m under, he knows how difficult the challenges are. I have a great group of guys to lean on and I think Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota and all the partners have done a great job to get the cars competitive and now it’s my time to get in there and try to help that out as much as possible.”
Are there any similarities between the ARCA car and these new Cup cars?
“The one thing is that I have kind of a diverse background. I’ve done all the open wheel junior series, Champ cars, sports cars, Grand-Am Cup cars and I’ve done them all in the same weekend. Jumping back and forth is something that I’ve been kind of used to so driving the new car wasn’t much of a transition. It didn’t drive quite like the ARCA car, but at the same time I only had one full season in the ARCA car so everything has been new to me. It’s been new to me ever since I started my career -- every year I’ve jumped to a different series. I feel the transition as far as learning the car and adapting to it should come a little easier.”
Do you think it will be easier to start at Martinsville versus Texas or some of the other tracks?
“I don’t think there’s any place that’s easy to make your debut. All the tracks are unique and they’re all difficult. You can go to Texas and its 210 miles-per-hour going into turn one and you go to Martinsville and it’s only 130, but it’s one of the most technically challenging tracks there is. They’re all unique and difficult -- it wasn’t my choice to pick Martinsville, but it’s the situation we have. I’m glad we’re going to a short track because it is a little more forgiving -- you can get beat and banged up and you can back it into the fence and still keep going, especially with these new cars. I feel like it gives us an opportunity to maybe make a few more mistakes than you normally could.”
Did running the short tracks in ARCA help you?
“That’s one thing that’s great about the ARCA series -- you get a wide diversity of tracks and a lot of short tracks. You run Lakeland, Toledo, Winchester, Salem -- there’s a lot of short tracks and we had success at short tracks. The short tracks I think are a bit more forgiving. You can drive the cars hard -- you can drive them sideways off the corner without killing yourself. I look forward to the short tracks.”
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