Michael Christopher McDowell is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 34 Ford Mustang for Front Row Motorsports. He has also raced in open-wheel and sports cars.
McDowell began his career in open-wheel cars, which included competing in Formula Renault and Champ Car, and in sports cars like the Rolex Sports Car Series and 24 Hours of Daytona. He moved to stock car racing in 2006 and his first Cup Series season came in 2008, the latter of which saw him attract attention for a violent qualifying crash at Texas Motor Speedway. However, after losing his ride at Michael Waltrip Racing, much of McDowell's Cup career in the following years was with smaller teams, oftentimes as a start and park driver. McDowell did not run full-time in the Cup Series again until 2017 with Leavine Family Racing when he ran all 36 races. McDowell joined his current employer Front Row in 2018 and has raced full-time for the team ever since. He won the 2021 Daytona 500 with FRM, McDowell's first-ever win in the Cup Series. He also has a win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2016 at Road America.
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