Michael McDowell 196th different winner in Cup Series
Michael McDowell is the newest driver to add their name to the NASCAR Cup Series all-time wins list.
McDowell’s victory in the 2021 Daytona 500 is the 36-year-old driver’s first in 358 starts, making him the 196th different racer in NASCAR’s premier series history to earn a points-awarding victory.
“I just can’t believe it,” McDowell said. “The only thing I can think of is just God is so good. For so many years I’ve just been grinding it out trying to stay in this sport.
“Bob Jenkins gave me a great opportunity to go full-time in a competitive car and Drew Blickensderfer and my whole entire team we’ve been working so hard for years to get into this position.”
McDowell joins Tiny Lund, Mario Andretti, Pete Hamilton, Derrike Cope, Sterling Marlin, Michael Waltrip and Trevor Bayne as drivers who scored their first win in the Cup Series in The Great American Race.
Prior to McDowell, Cole Custer and William Byron were the most recent first-time winners, picking up victories in 2020 at Kentucky and Daytona respectively.
Overall, McDowell is tied with 62 other drivers for 133th all-time on the NASCAR Cup Series wins list.
SOURCES
Ford Performance
Racing-Reference.info
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.