Michael McDowell shares his win with his family after a thrilling Cup Series performance at Indianapolis, the 'Racing Capital of the World.'
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00:00 >> A win when it may have mattered most.
00:02 Michael Mcdowell is your winner at the brickyard.
00:04 And Indianapolis road course, you conquered.
00:06 What does this win mean to you?
00:07 I know you have the Daytona 500 champion and the trophy, but this is a historic venue in
00:13 motorsports.
00:14 What does it mean?
00:15 >> It's unbelievable.
00:16 I mean, you know, for me, I grew up road racing, open wheel cars, road to Indy, Indy next program,
00:22 thinking that one day I would be here in an Indy car and obviously transition into cup
00:26 racing and to win an Indy is so special.
00:30 Nothing tops Daytona.
00:31 We all know that.
00:32 But for me, growing up, just loving Indy car, watching the Indianapolis 500, coming here
00:39 on summers and taking the white van tour around and going through the museum, it's just a
00:45 dream come true.
00:46 It's just amazing.
00:47 >> I know that you were unable to have your family down in Daytona when you won the 500,
00:51 but your family was here in victory lane.
00:53 They got to kiss the bricks with you.
00:54 What did it mean to have them here to celebrate?
00:56 >> Yeah, it's so special because nothing will top Daytona 500, but to go to victory lane
01:03 and not have them there was really tough.
01:06 I mean, it really was.
01:08 And so we're cherry picking.
01:10 We go to the races as a family that we know that we can win.
01:14 This is one we thought we could win.
01:15 Walk-ins Glen is one we thought we can win in Daytona.
01:19 So to have them here and have them take in that special moment, it will last forever.
01:24 You know, this is a tough sport, and they sacrificed a tremendous amount for me to be
01:29 able to do this and to do it as a family and travel together.
01:32 It's just not easy.
01:33 And to have them be able to celebrate and take it all in is really cool.
01:38 >> You mentioned this was one you had circled.
01:40 I talked to your crew chief Travis Peterson after the race, too.
01:43 You guys found speed in practice and qualifying and then you show up and win this race.
01:47 What did you find in the number 34 this weekend?
01:50 >> We have a good foundation with our road course program.
01:53 We've been fast since the next-gen era at these road courses.
01:57 So we had a good baseline, a good foundation.
01:59 But Travis and I talked after Chicago, and we felt like at Sonoma we were close, we were
02:05 top three car, but we didn't have the outright speed to beat the 19.
02:11 And I just told him, like, hey, let's go for it, man.
02:14 Let's try the things that we think is going to make us overall better.
02:18 Let's not be afraid.
02:19 If we go there with the same thing we had last year, we can run fifth and we'll be fine
02:23 and we'll score decent points.
02:25 But if we make it better, we can win.
02:27 And so let's just go for it and make it better.
02:30 And we worked hard at Ford performance on the simulator and trying to make sure that
02:36 what we're doing wasn't too risky, too big of a chance.
02:39 You don't want to vary off too far set-up wise.
02:43 And we just came with a little bit different approach.
02:46 And we were hopeful that it would give us what we needed in the areas we needed it.
02:51 And it did.
02:52 And it took us from being a top five-ish car to a race-winning car.
02:57 It's hard to execute that.
02:58 It's hard to hit everything just right.
02:59 And Travis has done a great job, and everybody at front row has been working really hard.
03:04 It's super, super humbling and impressive, the car that we had today.
03:09 >> Well, congratulations.
03:10 And guess what?
03:11 A road course in Daytona up next for the number 34.
03:14 They'll take on the challenge and don't even have to worry about points.
03:17 Michael McDowell, your winner at the brickyard.