Michael McDowell and Leavine Family Racing (LFR) earned their best finish both individually and as a team during the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The race weekend began on a positive note, as the team recorded two solid practice runs before qualifying 23rd. Daytona has been good to LFR and McDowell in the past, as McDowell earned his previous best finish in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) at the superspeedway. At the beginning of the 400-mile race, McDowell dropped back a few spots, but said his #95 WRL Chevrolet SS was running well and had no issues. The first caution of the night fell on lap nine. Crew Chief, Todd Parrott, made the decision to pit just for tires and pit only for fuel during the competition caution.
The second caution flag fell on lap 15, which would become the competition caution. McDowell restarted 14th with 21 laps remaining in the stage. He made it as far as sixth place, where he finished stage one, earning LFR their first stage points of the season. McDowell continued to race and avoided multiple incidents before a big caution came out with seven laps to go. Another caution came out at the restart, forcing the field to go into overtime. McDowell restarted in fifth place, and ran as high as second, before going on to earn his career best finish of 4th place.(Leavine Family Racing)[Read More Here]
