|
In the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports,
the 38-year-old McDowell took the lead for the final time from
Christopher Bell and beat Chase Elliott by 0.937 seconds for his
second win in 453 starts.
His previous victory was the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb.
14, 2021. He became the 14th unique winner in 2023.
Calling it "a dream come true," the 16-year NASCAR Cup Series
veteran made the postseason for the second time and gave Ford
its third consecutive win.
"I'm so thankful to still be grinding it out in the Cup series,"
said McDowell, who paced a career-high 54 laps. "I don't know if
we were dominant, but it felt pretty dominant to me. ... I
thought we could point out way in (to the playoffs), but after
the car that we had yesterday in practice, I thought, 'We've got
a good shot at winning if we can just get track position and
maintain it.'"
He added, laughing, "To win at Daytona and now at Indy, I feel
like I'm cherry-picking."
Elliott will likely have to win one of the two remaining races
at Watkins Glen or Daytona to participate in the playoffs.
"I just needed to be a little better," the No. 9 Hendrick
Motorsports driver said. "Congrats to Michael, he did a good
job. Ran a great race and stayed mistake-free. That's what
you've got to do to win."
Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman rounded out the top
five finishers in a race that saw just one caution period. Bell
dropped to ninth place.
Three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen,
who was victorious on the Chicago Street Course in his Cup debut
in July, brought his No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet home in
10th.
With his first pole position of 2023 and the third of his
career, Suarez led the way early on the 14-turn road course
inside the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
However, he eventually relinquished the point in his No. 99
Camaro to McDowell on the 2.439-mile layout.
The first driver out of the playoffs and needing bonus points as
the 24th race of the regular season began, McDowell kept the top
spot to win 15-lap Stage 1 over Suarez.
Denny Hamlin, who had finished outside the top 10 in the past
nine road-course events, claimed the points in the second stage
and immediately pitted.
McDowell padded his strong points day by running second to the
No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
Battling with Elliott for second place on Lap 48, Suarez bumped
the 2020 champion out of position. But Suarez soon had a slow
stop during green-flag pitting.
McDowell reassumed the lead with less than 30 laps to go,
building a lead of 3.5 seconds over Elliott and 9-plus over
Suarez.
The Phoenix native saw Elliott's No. 9 Chevy get to within two
seconds of him, but he was able to keep his Mustang out front
for his first win in 40 starts on a road course.
--Field Level Media
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
