McDowell advances No. 81 at Chicagoland

Three days after announcing a two-race deal to run the No. 81 MacDonald Motorsports entry in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Michael McDowell raced the No. 81 D. H. Griffin Companies Dodge Charger from 39th to 25th at the Dollar General 300 last Friday, July 10 at Chicagoland Speedway.

“We struggled in practice as the team worked hard to get me comfortable and the car driving well,” said McDowell, who started out at 30th in the opening practice session on Thursday. “So to improve 14 spots in the race showed we made significant progress in a short period of time.”

McDowell remains in 11th place in the driver standings heading into this weekend’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway.

“We have some more work to do to get the car dialed to my driving style, but now we have a direction heading into Gateway,” McDowell added.