Michael McDowell Couldn't Overcome Ford's Intermediate Speed Deficit in Homestead Qualifying
2 weeks agoDespite winning a season-high six poles thanks to his dominant qualifying on drafting tracks, McDowell has definitely been hit-or-miss in terms of qualifying everywhere else, as he only qualified 24th for today's Homestead race, the worst since the Southern 500. McDowell hasn't factored much in the oval races where he didn't win the pole, and that will probably hold true for today's Homestead race as well. McDowell has only led a career two laps at the track and although he did get two top ten finishes there (including shockingly once for Leavine Family Racing), his average running positions of 18th and 13th in those races weren't amazing and neither of them came with the Next Gen car. Considering Ford's apparent speed deficit this weekend, he'll likely need strategy to get in the mix.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference