Glendale native carrying 'momentum' into NASCAR weekend race

Michael McDowell and the No. 34 Love’s RV Stop team head to Newton, Iowa, for the NASCAR Cup Series’ inaugural race at Iowa Speedway.

Coming off a second-place finish at Sonoma Raceway, his first Top 5 of the season, McDowell returns to a track he’s familiar with.

No stranger to the Iowa Speedway, McDowell has made several starts in the NASCAR lower series in his career. He made eight starts in the Xfinity Series, including six straight Top 10s, including a runner-up in 2014, and earned two second place finishes in the ARCA Menards Series in 2006, 2007.

The Cup Series will have practice at 2:30 p.m. Friday, June 14 and qualifying at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 15. The inaugural Iowa Corn 350 starts at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 16 on USA Network.

“Iowa is going to be a fun race,” he shared in a press release. “I’ve had multiple starts there in a Xfinity Series and ARCA car, so I’m familiar with the track. It will be interesting to see how the Next Gen runs with the recent re-pave and grip levels, tire wear. We have a lot of momentum after Sonoma.”

McDowell came from out of nowhere to win the Daytona 500 in 2021. NASCAR itself named him one of the 10 biggest surprise winners in Daytona history.

His earliest racing came in north Glendale as a kid.

“Friday and Saturday nights during the summer, practicing and racing at PKRA (Phoenix Kart Racing Association),” he told the Independent of the track located at 22500 43rd Ave. E, when asked about his favorite memories growing up in Glendale. “It was a fun time in life, racing with my family and our friends. It was a great community out there and it was a special time.”

McDowell calls ISM Raceway, at 7602 Jimmie Johnson Drive in Avondale, his home track.