By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
The first career NASCAR Cup Series pole for Michael McDowell was a long time coming, as the Front Row Motorsports (FRM) driver broke a 45-year-old record in the process.
The 17-year veteran of the Cup Series had qualified for 466 races entering the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. However, McDowell had never earned the Busch Light Pole. He narrowly missed the achievement at Daytona Int’l Speedway, qualifying for the outside pole for ‘The Great American Race.’
As the only driver to break set a lap below the 31-second bracket, McDowell’s No. 34 Benebone Ford Mustang Darkhorse earned his first career pole in 467th Cup Series start. The Phoenix, AZ native broke a record set by J.D. McDuffie for most career starts before winning the pole. McDuffie’s only career pole, in the 1978 summer race at Dover Motor Speedway, came in his 404th career start.
“The first eight years of my career were rough, so I’m enjoying it now, having fast race cars and a great team behind me and being able to have results like this – top fives, top 10s, winning Indy last year – so it’s been fun,” McDowell said. “The last few years have been great. It’s been very rewarding, but at the same time it’s motivating too because I’m not getting any younger and I don’t want to say I’m running out of time because I still have a lot of time, but 10 years where I don’t want to say wasted because they obviously served their purpose.
“I have a lot of catching up to do and now is the time to start catching up on all those areas where I couldn’t early on in my career. It’s just motivating to make the most of the opportunity we have in front of us because right now, today, we have fast cars and that’s not a guarantee six months from now and that’s not a guarantee 12 months from now. I know that because I lived the other side for a long time, so it’s making the most of the opportunity that we have right in front of us right now because right now we’re in the game and have something for them.”
McDowell’s 30.999-second, 178.844 MPH lap beat fellow Ford Performance driver Joey Logano for the top spot on the grid by 0.073 seconds. It also marked the first career pole for McDowell’s crew chief, Travis Peterson.
“I don’t think it’s too much of a coincidence,” McDowell said. “I say that just because with both qualifying sessions being a superspeedway and a superspeedway package we sort of knew coming from Daytona that we were gonna have good speed because we showed good speed at Daytona, so not a huge surprise but really cool. It’s awesome for everybody, the men and women at Front Row, to come here and sit on the pole, go to Daytona and sit on the front row.
“It’s a big couple of weeks showing a lot of speed, so I’m really proud of everything. Yes, it is for sure my first career pole in the Cup Series. I’m proud of that, but at the same time it’s more of a testament to the team. This qualifying session you have to execute everything perfectly, but at the same time having a fast race car is what it’s all about, so I’m really proud of my guys.”
With his FRM teammate Todd Gilliland qualifying fourth, it marks the best average start for a race in the organization’s history. FRM’s only pole for a Cup race prior to McDowell’s was with David Gilliland in the 2014 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.
The Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta is scheduled for Sunday, February 25 at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX. The race will also be broadcast on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.