DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — When Michael McDowell drove through the smoke, fire and flames on the last lap of last year’s Daytona 500, it put Front Row Motorsports in victory lane in the biggest NASCAR race of the year.
It was the third Cup Series victory for the team. David Ragan won the Aaron’s 499 way back in 2013 and Chris Buescher won at Pocono Raceway in 2016.
Eight years after Ragan’s triumph, team owner Bob Jenkins and his team were celebrating a shocking Daytona 500 victory.
It took a long time for the Statesville, N.C., team to get there, but it stuck to its plan of building slowly and methodically.
“A lot of it started with this guy’s dad, David Gilliland and David Ragan,” McDowell said during Wednesday’s Daytona 500 Media Day, referring to his rookie teammate Todd Gilliland. “They are a big part of what Front Row is today.
“Since I have been here it has just been that slow progression. I think that when Bob Jenkins the owner and Jerry Freeze, when we look at it you want that instant success, and it hasn’t been an instant success. It has been getting three or four spots better on average every year with how we perform.
“That is hard to do in our sport.”
To slowly build without unrealistic expectations, it takes a solid business plan and a team owner who isn’t afraid to spend money while remaining patient.
Jenkins displayed that patience.
“I think that Bob’s vision for the team and what he has allowed us to do is a testament to he is a very savvy businessman,” McDowell said. “He didn’t go broke the first year trying to get to where he wasn’t going to be able to get to.
“I think that has been the case for a lot of people that have come and gone in this sport. They come in and spend everything they have and take a run at it and two or three years later they are not in business anymore.
“So, his process of growing slowly has built sustainability for the race team so that now we have the partnership and sustainability to keep going at the rate we are going,” McDowell continued. “Even though it didn’t go as fast as we all hoped it is working out now to where we are very solid, secure, and stable. Five, six or seven years ago it probably wasn’t that. He has also spent a significant amount of his own money to do it and it takes a big commitment to do that.
“It has definitely been a process.”
McDowell compared the teams progress to IndyCar team owner Dale Coyne. He is another man who has slowly and methodically built his team into a winning operation.
McDowell’s racing career began in Indy Lights in 2004. He drove two Champ Car Series races in 2005 for team owner Bob Gentilozzi.
“I always feel like and have felt like this model will work because even at Front Row we have really good people,” McDowell continued. “On a given day when we hit everything right. When I hit everything right and we hit the setup right and the strategy right, you should at least have an opportunity or be in a position to win.
“I grew up an open-wheel guy and I love watching IndyCar and get a lot of satisfaction from seeing a guy like Dale Coyne win races because he hired a good engineer and a really good driver. When they hit it right and they get the strategy right they can win an IndyCar race and beat Penske and Ganassi and Andretti and those big teams.
“I think the Next Gen car gives us and other teams the opportunity to do that in the Cup Series,” McDowell added. “When you get it right and hit everything right you will see guys win races that you don’t typically see because a lot of the parts and pieces are pretty close. The best teams are always going to be the best teams, there is no doubt about that.”
McDowell’s Daytona 500 victory created opportunities that only come from winning.
“The value last year for our partners was significant just because of the amount of eyeballs watching the Daytona 500 and also too, beyond that, all the highlights and all the social engagement and all the commercials that NASCAR is running previewing,” McDowell explained. “Like when FOX switched to NBC it had our win on that commercial. All those tidbits really add up to a lot at the end of the year in terms of exposure value and TV viewership for our partners.
“That was a huge thing. Not that it was unexpected, but I didn’t realize how much value that added.
“Then from the short term, we have more races sold on the 34 car this year than we ever have. I don’t know officially but I think we may only have one race available at this point. From a sponsorship standpoint, it has helped significantly. That was growing each and every year and we were trending that direction but the 500 definitely sped that up for us and allowed us to just make new relationships and expand our current ones.
“From a sponsorship standpoint, it has helped a lot.”
Only winning can create a winning attitude.
“I don’t want to call it morale but the legitimacy of the race team and getting really quality people to come to Front Row as employees to help us grow the program helped a tremendous amount by running well and winning the Daytona 500,” McDowell said. “I think that five or six years ago we had a harder time getting people to buy in to sort of the mission and the vision at Front Row, especially if they are already at a big four or big five race team.
“Now it is a little easier to see that we can do it and we have the ability to do it and that is a great place for people to achieve some of their goals that they wouldn’t get to achieve otherwise.”