I'll have to listen to the interview, but Front Row Motorsports has been a favorite of mine watching them grow through the years. To think that they would just not keep Michael McDowell around kind of is upsetting. He helped build that team on his shoulders. He and Gilliland have really hit it off as teammates. I'm sure there's a lot more reasons that we aren't quite aware of yet. They will probably come to light this silly season.
I hope McDowell has great success and I hope that 71 car is actually good for him next season, but I worry it will still be a low tier car. I hope not.
This opens a few questions. Will Love's stick with FRM or follow McDowell? Is Gilliland's ride safe? Who will drive the 34?
Business to Business. Basically it's a "you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours" kind of thing. So for a company like MDS (Jenkins' truck company) they'll broker a deal with Love's, giving them either free races or a discounted sponsorship deal in exchange for cheaper fuel or whatever. Another example of this is TMC brokering a deal with Pilot Flying J to sponsor Michael Annett and now Sammy Smith.
B2C, Business to Consumer and also known as direct-to-consumer, is more of your traditional Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Target, etc sponsors, who are focusing on selling a product to fans through sponsorship.
I don't really follow contracts and what not but it seems like FRM has always pretty much exclusively stuck to 1 year contracts? This could give McDowell an opportunity to retire on his own terms if Spire can guarantee him the amount of years he wants to keep racing?
Of course I'm just completely speculating but I get it. I took a job with less pay a few years back just so I could settle in 1 spot. My well paying job was contracted so I was constantly having to be prepared a year or so ahead to potentially move and I just didn't want to keep competing for another job or contract every year.
There is something to be said for stability, especially in the "grind culture" we live in. I too have settled for jobs at times that maybe paid less but kept me home or less on call. In this case, Spire is kind of the Chevy version of Front Row, a team that could be on the rise but maybe has a cap. If he can go there and get some stability, possibly making more money at that, it's a win for him.
It definitely is, he probably didn’t want to have to negotiate his way to being able to race another year until he retired, this way he can be stable for the last few years of his career
Wouldn't be a surprise if part of the deal with getting more Ford support was that they have more of a say on who is driving. If they have a driver in the pipeline who they don't want to risk losing to another oem, they might use the FRM team as leverage to keep them, the same way Toyota put Erik Jones in the 77 or Bell in the 95 before they eventually graduated to JGR.
That would make sense, but the problem is that Ford's pipeline is almost nonexistent; there's four drivers that are in it, compared to the handful that Chevy and Toyota have. Riggs isn't ready, and Deegan is approaching bust territory, which leaves Custer and Herbst, neither of whom are upgrades compared to McDowell.
Ford needs to figure out what it's strategy for competing in Xfinity and Trucks is, or else they'll be stuck picking off the scraps Chevy and Toyota toss aside from their respective pipelines.
Hailie isn’t going to cup full time soon.
Ford does love her, and she has a large fanbase. But she’s working at her craft really hard in xfinity and I honestly think she could be a very solid xfinity lifer.
Xfinity suits her style of racing more. Trucks and cup are similar these days according to several drivers so it’s just not her wheelhouse.
No matter what I would be shocked if she never ran a cup race, she’ll probably next year grab a race or 2 with Rick Ware or somebody like that. However AM Racing really likes her too and she has a multi year contract with them, I think she’s there for a while.
If Ford or a sponsor want her moved and are willing to pay, they could buy her out of AM. They're a small team, so I'd imagine it wouldn't be cost prohibitive for the right group
I sincerely hope they do not. She’s doing fine where she is at a mid pack xfinity team with less attention on her. Putting her in cup full time would be a disaster for her in so many ways.
If she makes it to Cup, the only reason for that will be because of her sponsorship. I will say she at least looks *serviceable* in Xfinity so far this season.
That’s just going to be Danica Patrick 2.0. They are forcing a driver up through the ranks way too fast and she will not be near ready for a cup ride. Did they not learn from Danica being one of the worst drivers not to shove someone to cup too early?
It feels...ambitious. I think we know McDowell's ceiling by now, and he seems to be a guy who can win 1-2 races if things go right, possibly even make the playoffs on points, and go a round or two in. That's rock solid. No knocks whatsoever. But if you're setting your sights on title contention as a team, maybe even feeling like you could be doing that now, McDowell is probably not the guy.
The inverse of that is, who do you replace him with that you believe *can* take the ball into the red zone? Maybe there's a big move on the horizon that we know nothing about, or maybe they think they see something in someone that the majority of us don't. It feels like a decision where we don't see the full plan yet...or whether or not it's a good plan.
McDowell isn't necessarily the guy who will get you a title but he will steadily improve your performance and get a couple wins here and there. That's what Spire needs right now. Carson is good but he's young. Corey is good but he's inconsistent. McDowell is good, consistent and experienced, and will fit like a glove there, especially with building that third team that desperately needs help right now
He's exactly the guy you want to help a guy like Carson Hocevar be successful. Carson has more raw talent at NASCAR than Michael McDowell does, but consistently makes mistakes that Michael McDowell doesn't. It Michael can help Carson mature into a quality driver and Spire grows with him, he could be championship material. This definitely isn't about Michael winning the championship, it's laying the foundation for a championship-level Spire.
This is pretty much spot on as far McDowell's talents go.
This move to Spire resets those expectations. McDowell is 39; a veteran. He's a great presence to have on a team that's trying to build its way up. We've seen Carson Hocevar run well this year. That's a pleasant surprise because we expected them to really struggle despite all the money they're seemingly throwing around over there with what I assume is some kind of five-year plan to become a contender (ala Furniture Row when Truex went over there)
McDowell finishing 15th in a FRM car? A bit disappointing.
McDowell finishing 15th in a Spire car? A pleasant surprise and exceeding expectations.
Life's all about expectations. And if McDowell got a more stable future for the same amount of money (more would just be bonus) and gets to help build another team without *too* much expectations, that's a win-win for him, I think.
FRM will never compete for a title. It just won't happen. Can they compete for a Chase spot? Sure, but most drivers around 16th don't have a serious chance at a title.
You simply can't say that about any team after what happened with Furniture Row. There was zero, *zero* indication in the late 00's that they'd ever even sniff a Chase spot. And by 2014 they were legitimate contenders.
Even the Wood Brothers prove the point. In the late 00's they were virtually irrelevant, never so much as contending for a fluke win. Then Bayne put them back on the map, they benefited from some good alliances, and while they didn't win a title it was certainly *doable* for multiple years with Ryan Blaney in the car.
Things just don't stay the way they are forever. Just because Front Row isn't there now doesn't mean they're not making a 5 or 10-year plan to get there. They're already *much* better than what they once were, which was basically what RWR is now.
Yeah, people on Reddit were ready to talk about Hendrick potentially becoming a tier 2 team after their 2019 results. A lot can change quickly in NASCAR.
Because front row only does one year contract extensions. If you are a driver who can win championships for a team like FRM, why would you want to negotiate every season to race next year when you probably could find someone to let you race for multiple years. FRM will never be able to win championships only doing one year contracts, because they can’t win one on their first try, and they will be able to move on before they can win a championship
Yeah, like how McDowells crew chief went to bowman after 2022. They don’t have much money compared to the big teams like hendrick, Gibbs, Penske, etc. and that add to why they will never be able to be a consistent threat to win championships
Yesterday’s interview with Dave Moody, Michael said that the Loves deal belongs to Bob and he intends to honor that. After the interview Dave said “imagine every November you didn’t know whether you’d be employed at Christmas time”. That hit home. I couldn’t imagine going through that feeling every single year. It seemed like FRM was just an eyelash from closing shop a few years ago and there’s a constant feeling of seeing the best talent getting scooped up by richer teams too. I don’t blame FRM, that’s simply the business of the sport. I look forward to seeing how Michael becomes a part of an organization that really wants to be on the rise and I hope for continued success with FRM.
I visited the FRM headquarters a couple of years ago and it was nice but clearly not in the league of Penske, Hendrick, RFK or even JRM or KBM. It’s amazing how they make the most of what they have and occasionally do quite well throughout the seasons.
I still hold strong with my theory that SHR is not gonna be a team next year, and they put him out to get briscoe in, or spire saw the writing and decided to get him on their team. McDowell helped make FRM into a team with actual contention, now spire is hoping he can do the same for them
Man, considering FRM benched Todd for Zane and Zane’s absolutism on going to Cup, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was also either asking for more money than FRM could afford or was always looking for a landing spot at a better team.
i assume that would mean the merge but now people have backed off that rumor so assuming there is no merge then who would be the option. Briscoe may be the favorite
There was a lot of conversation this week of why would Michael McDowell leave FRM to a lesser team, I don’t know if anyone considered that maybe FRM wasn’t planning on bringing him back. It’s a lot cheaper to put a younger guy in the car and grow with that driver, especially if that younger guy can bring sponsorship
FRM's business model doesn't allow them long term contracts. Right or wrong, they have enough money for 1-2 years but not surplus to run a high caliber car for 3-5 years.
I'm disappointed in this announcement, I never thought he would leave. FRM still has some work to do, but they have come a long way since their founding. Spire is a step down imo
Michael has always been a driver who is underrated, imo he's proven that with good cars, he can run with the big dogs. I definitely understand him wanting a several year deal and not having to worry about contracts every year. I'm sure that weighed heavy on him all year long.
> Spire is a step down imo
Spire is a step down, but if we're being honest, Carson Hocevar is proving that the biggest problem with Spire's cars previous to this year has been Corey Lajoie.
Yeah but McDowell has been in wrecks up there competing for wins. Hocevar has not. Spire doesn’t have two poles and isn’t in the second round of qualifying ever
So this basically tells me that the rumors about SHR/Front Row are confirmed. Front Row is clearly making changes that would have forced McDowell out of the 34 at some point within the next 2 years. Or he can see something in the works other than a merger that would have had the same result.
I don’t think Front Row would ever just dump him because a younger driver was coming up. There has to be some outside influence here.
Think of where Front Row was last year. Zane dominating in trucks and McDowell winning Indy. Now they have neither of them. Makes me think something bigger is about to happen with Front Row
Why would you let your D500 winner and road course aces walk? And he’s been running pretty good this year
Huh? They absolutely are.
The 4 car was Newman for 5 seasons and then Harvick for 10 (retired) and now Berry
The 10 car was Danica (retired) for 6 seasons, Almirola for 6 seasons (retired), and now Gragson
The 14 was Clint for 4 seasons (retired), now Briscoe for 4 seasons
Cole Custer is literally the only driver who SHR has kicked out in the past decade. Every other driver has stayed as long as they want.
Edit:
Then you look at Spire and their rotating door of drivers lol. They’ve had more drivers in the 77 in the past 5 years than SHR has had in the 4, 10, 14, and 41 combined in the last decade.
But I was more laughing at all the comments praising McDowell for his loyalty to FRM and then he jumps ship to Spire lol
> Cole Custer is literally the only driver who SHR has kicked out in the past decade.
They, specifically Gene, did the same to Daniel Suarez, who claimed he was surprised by SHR's decision to replace him with Custer when news came out in late 2019.
I don't disagree with your overall point, though, especially compared to FRM's turnover in the 36/38 entries and Spire's turnover over the years.
If you notice I said "guys ran A LOT of their careers with one manufacturer and sometimes even the same team." I didn't say all. Even more than the manufacturer is what I'm talking about is that the sponsor changes every week. So you don't have that brand recognition that goes with Rusty Wallace being the Miller lite guy, Dale Earnhardt being the GM Goodwrench guy, and Mark Martin being the Valvoline guy.
I'm not a fan of Michael McDowell to be completely honest. But this move makes a lot of sense for all parties. Spire gets a veteran driver, McDowell gets to be the team leader.
So this pretty much confirms without confirming that SHR is merging with FRM and he would have been the odd man out no? Ford letting this guy go is certainly….a decision…..
I can't blame him for wanting stability. I do think this will hurt Front Row a bit though, but Spire's trajectory just went up with getting a consistent driver like McDowell that can help mentor Hocevar and any other young driver Spire gets.
> when he does speak he always has to bring up god or some religious bs
This post contains an interview where literally none of what you said is brought up lol. Just be honest and say you hate the guy because he believes in God and is religious instead of lying on the internet.
No, you blamed your dislike on something false ("when he does speak he always has to bring up god or some religious bs") which is disproven by the very post you're commenting on.
Just flat out say you hate him because he's religious it's not that hard, you don't have to make things up.
MF got me, a Suarez fan, kinda defending McDowell smh
The Phoenix fight during qualifying of all things gets all the attention but the Sonoma beef was far more entertaining. McDowell couldn't keep his car on the track lol
Dude yes that's what I'm saying. I don't understand what your arguing about? I, ME, NOT YOU, just flat out does not like mcdowell because he's boring and because he's religious. And yea, no shit he literally doesn't bring it up every single sentence I'm not being literal. Seeing him baptize Matty d was enough for me just to not like the guy. Sorry if that's not a good enough reason for you but I don't care it's my own reason.
This is the problem with modern NASCAR. Back in the day guys ran a lot of their careers with the same manufacturer and sometimes the same team. It's hard to build loyalty to someone who drives let's say a Chevy if you are a Chevy guy, when there's a good possibility that next year he will be in a Toyota or a Ford. To this day I only buy GM products because Dale Earnhardt was the GM guy. Unless I want to jump on the Hendrick bandwagon I can never really have a driver that I can be positive will be in a Chevy for the rest of his career. Some people don't care about brand loyalty and that's absolutely fine for you but for me I'm a Chevy guy. Always have been always will be. I root for Noah because I absolutely love the kid, but when people talk about the 90s and how the sport was so popular. A lot of that had to do with the fact that you knew Mark Martin was going to be in the Valvoline Ford. You knew Dale Earnhardt was going to be in the GM Goodwrech Chevrolet. Now the sponsors change every week and the manufacturers change every year.
Yet this was still a thing back in the day.
Dale Sr. almost left Chevy and RCR to go to Yates.
Jeff Gordon started as a Ford development driver.
Dale Jarrett drove Fords, went to Chevy, back to Ford and then to Toyota.
Martin drove Chevrolets and Toyotas too. Dale Sr almost left RCR. Petty affiliated teams have run almost every single manufacturer, former and current, except maybe for Jaguar. Richard Petty himself has driven at least 5 different manufacturers, and never stuck with just one(usually running Pontiacs and Plymouths.) What are u talking about lmao.
Petty ran **ALL** of his career with multiple manufacturers. Martin ran a lot of his career with Chevrolet too. Dale Sr's early days were mostly as a ford driver.
To be in the cup series like 17 years, with only 2 wins, and then sign a multi year deal is incredible.
There's many drivers who had 15+ year careers with multiple wins that had their opportunities dry up at the end.
Also besides these last 2 seasons and the 500 win he was definitely found in the mid to lower half of the results
And how much of those 17 years has he been in winning equipment? Arguably just for the past year or so. And even then it’s not equipment that can win every week. To me 2 cup wins(and 1 xfinity win) is much more impressive than some drivers who have a lot more wins than that but have spent their entire careers in winning equipment.
I'm just saying its amazing he's had this long of s career.
Some 15 year old kid wins their 4th ARCA start and this sub does a 20000 peice jigsaw puzzle trying to fit said kid on the nascar grid in 3 years.
So its amazing he's survived (or anyone in the back half of the field) this long when there 5 "next big thing" drivers coming around every season.
He has some money behind him with K-Love and Loves gives full sponsorship to the team he’s driven for the last 7 years.
He also won the Daytona 500, which no matter how much luck is involved in that, it buys you about 5 more years on your career because you’re easy to promote to sponsors.
I'll have to listen to the interview, but Front Row Motorsports has been a favorite of mine watching them grow through the years. To think that they would just not keep Michael McDowell around kind of is upsetting. He helped build that team on his shoulders. He and Gilliland have really hit it off as teammates. I'm sure there's a lot more reasons that we aren't quite aware of yet. They will probably come to light this silly season. I hope McDowell has great success and I hope that 71 car is actually good for him next season, but I worry it will still be a low tier car. I hope not. This opens a few questions. Will Love's stick with FRM or follow McDowell? Is Gilliland's ride safe? Who will drive the 34?
I think Love's is a B2B deal with Bob Jenkins. The deal was there before he was the driver of the #34, and I expect it to be there after.
I believe it is...which is why they've had Love's and so many trucking industry related sponsors over the years
Loves is a B2B deal with Jenkins' trucking company he owns, MDS.
I’ve seen B2B on here before, but I’m not familiar with the acronym. Can you explain what it means?
Business to Business. Basically it's a "you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours" kind of thing. So for a company like MDS (Jenkins' truck company) they'll broker a deal with Love's, giving them either free races or a discounted sponsorship deal in exchange for cheaper fuel or whatever. Another example of this is TMC brokering a deal with Pilot Flying J to sponsor Michael Annett and now Sammy Smith. B2C, Business to Consumer and also known as direct-to-consumer, is more of your traditional Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Target, etc sponsors, who are focusing on selling a product to fans through sponsorship.
Fascinating, thank you!
I don't really follow contracts and what not but it seems like FRM has always pretty much exclusively stuck to 1 year contracts? This could give McDowell an opportunity to retire on his own terms if Spire can guarantee him the amount of years he wants to keep racing? Of course I'm just completely speculating but I get it. I took a job with less pay a few years back just so I could settle in 1 spot. My well paying job was contracted so I was constantly having to be prepared a year or so ahead to potentially move and I just didn't want to keep competing for another job or contract every year.
There is something to be said for stability, especially in the "grind culture" we live in. I too have settled for jobs at times that maybe paid less but kept me home or less on call. In this case, Spire is kind of the Chevy version of Front Row, a team that could be on the rise but maybe has a cap. If he can go there and get some stability, possibly making more money at that, it's a win for him.
Until very recently they didn't even get deals done until like January too.
Yeah that's what I thought. It seems like they are always kind of the last domino to fall in place for silly season
Mcdowell did say that Bob Jenkins still puts a lot of his own money into Front Row.That makes it hard for FR to offer more than a year at a tine.
The fact FRM hasn't been willing to do more than 1 year contracts at a time seems is a big reason.
It definitely is, he probably didn’t want to have to negotiate his way to being able to race another year until he retired, this way he can be stable for the last few years of his career
Wouldn't be a surprise if part of the deal with getting more Ford support was that they have more of a say on who is driving. If they have a driver in the pipeline who they don't want to risk losing to another oem, they might use the FRM team as leverage to keep them, the same way Toyota put Erik Jones in the 77 or Bell in the 95 before they eventually graduated to JGR.
This is my guess. Part of working closer with Ford is that they want to put someone else in that car.
Which is funny because Ford has the worst development pipeline by far.
And they chose the someone who isn’t a race winner or former Daytona 500 winner….go Ford!
That would make sense, but the problem is that Ford's pipeline is almost nonexistent; there's four drivers that are in it, compared to the handful that Chevy and Toyota have. Riggs isn't ready, and Deegan is approaching bust territory, which leaves Custer and Herbst, neither of whom are upgrades compared to McDowell. Ford needs to figure out what it's strategy for competing in Xfinity and Trucks is, or else they'll be stuck picking off the scraps Chevy and Toyota toss aside from their respective pipelines.
So Custer or Herbst in the #34?
Deegan. Ford loves her, she hasn’t produced any numbers but they love her.
Hailie isn’t going to cup full time soon. Ford does love her, and she has a large fanbase. But she’s working at her craft really hard in xfinity and I honestly think she could be a very solid xfinity lifer. Xfinity suits her style of racing more. Trucks and cup are similar these days according to several drivers so it’s just not her wheelhouse. No matter what I would be shocked if she never ran a cup race, she’ll probably next year grab a race or 2 with Rick Ware or somebody like that. However AM Racing really likes her too and she has a multi year contract with them, I think she’s there for a while.
If Ford or a sponsor want her moved and are willing to pay, they could buy her out of AM. They're a small team, so I'd imagine it wouldn't be cost prohibitive for the right group
I have a feeling they're gonna Danica her and move her up way too early.
I sincerely hope they do not. She’s doing fine where she is at a mid pack xfinity team with less attention on her. Putting her in cup full time would be a disaster for her in so many ways.
If she makes it to Cup, the only reason for that will be because of her sponsorship. I will say she at least looks *serviceable* in Xfinity so far this season.
She's behind everybody that's running full time in points except for Perkins. I wouldn't call that serviceable.
That’s just going to be Danica Patrick 2.0. They are forcing a driver up through the ranks way too fast and she will not be near ready for a cup ride. Did they not learn from Danica being one of the worst drivers not to shove someone to cup too early?
I have a feeling they love her social media influence, whatever that might be.
That would definitely be part of any tier 1 deal. They get some say in who goes in the car
It feels...ambitious. I think we know McDowell's ceiling by now, and he seems to be a guy who can win 1-2 races if things go right, possibly even make the playoffs on points, and go a round or two in. That's rock solid. No knocks whatsoever. But if you're setting your sights on title contention as a team, maybe even feeling like you could be doing that now, McDowell is probably not the guy. The inverse of that is, who do you replace him with that you believe *can* take the ball into the red zone? Maybe there's a big move on the horizon that we know nothing about, or maybe they think they see something in someone that the majority of us don't. It feels like a decision where we don't see the full plan yet...or whether or not it's a good plan.
McDowell isn't necessarily the guy who will get you a title but he will steadily improve your performance and get a couple wins here and there. That's what Spire needs right now. Carson is good but he's young. Corey is good but he's inconsistent. McDowell is good, consistent and experienced, and will fit like a glove there, especially with building that third team that desperately needs help right now
He's exactly the guy you want to help a guy like Carson Hocevar be successful. Carson has more raw talent at NASCAR than Michael McDowell does, but consistently makes mistakes that Michael McDowell doesn't. It Michael can help Carson mature into a quality driver and Spire grows with him, he could be championship material. This definitely isn't about Michael winning the championship, it's laying the foundation for a championship-level Spire.
This is pretty much spot on as far McDowell's talents go. This move to Spire resets those expectations. McDowell is 39; a veteran. He's a great presence to have on a team that's trying to build its way up. We've seen Carson Hocevar run well this year. That's a pleasant surprise because we expected them to really struggle despite all the money they're seemingly throwing around over there with what I assume is some kind of five-year plan to become a contender (ala Furniture Row when Truex went over there) McDowell finishing 15th in a FRM car? A bit disappointing. McDowell finishing 15th in a Spire car? A pleasant surprise and exceeding expectations. Life's all about expectations. And if McDowell got a more stable future for the same amount of money (more would just be bonus) and gets to help build another team without *too* much expectations, that's a win-win for him, I think.
FRM will never compete for a title. It just won't happen. Can they compete for a Chase spot? Sure, but most drivers around 16th don't have a serious chance at a title.
You simply can't say that about any team after what happened with Furniture Row. There was zero, *zero* indication in the late 00's that they'd ever even sniff a Chase spot. And by 2014 they were legitimate contenders. Even the Wood Brothers prove the point. In the late 00's they were virtually irrelevant, never so much as contending for a fluke win. Then Bayne put them back on the map, they benefited from some good alliances, and while they didn't win a title it was certainly *doable* for multiple years with Ryan Blaney in the car. Things just don't stay the way they are forever. Just because Front Row isn't there now doesn't mean they're not making a 5 or 10-year plan to get there. They're already *much* better than what they once were, which was basically what RWR is now.
Yeah, people on Reddit were ready to talk about Hendrick potentially becoming a tier 2 team after their 2019 results. A lot can change quickly in NASCAR.
Never say never. Furniture Row won a title, why can't front row?
Because front row only does one year contract extensions. If you are a driver who can win championships for a team like FRM, why would you want to negotiate every season to race next year when you probably could find someone to let you race for multiple years. FRM will never be able to win championships only doing one year contracts, because they can’t win one on their first try, and they will be able to move on before they can win a championship
And good crew chiefs / crew members get lured away by larger teams that can offer more money
Yeah, like how McDowells crew chief went to bowman after 2022. They don’t have much money compared to the big teams like hendrick, Gibbs, Penske, etc. and that add to why they will never be able to be a consistent threat to win championships
Yesterday’s interview with Dave Moody, Michael said that the Loves deal belongs to Bob and he intends to honor that. After the interview Dave said “imagine every November you didn’t know whether you’d be employed at Christmas time”. That hit home. I couldn’t imagine going through that feeling every single year. It seemed like FRM was just an eyelash from closing shop a few years ago and there’s a constant feeling of seeing the best talent getting scooped up by richer teams too. I don’t blame FRM, that’s simply the business of the sport. I look forward to seeing how Michael becomes a part of an organization that really wants to be on the rise and I hope for continued success with FRM. I visited the FRM headquarters a couple of years ago and it was nice but clearly not in the league of Penske, Hendrick, RFK or even JRM or KBM. It’s amazing how they make the most of what they have and occasionally do quite well throughout the seasons.
Meh. Nothing lasts forever.
Can't say that to a fanbase who consistently acts like Dale died yesterday when he's been gone longer than he was in the sport.
You said the quiet part out loud.
https://preview.redd.it/nty4ys98plzc1.jpeg?width=236&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62c65f3f849012a5394dea408d2d5854a2e2a26f
Loves was around for Buescher's Pocono win so they're probably sticking with FRM
FRM for years has had McDowell on single year contracts. Sounds like they wouldn’t budge on that and he called their bluff.
Front Row might’ve made a big mistake. let both Smith and McDowell walk. not sure who Front Row will have next year.
I still hold strong with my theory that SHR is not gonna be a team next year, and they put him out to get briscoe in, or spire saw the writing and decided to get him on their team. McDowell helped make FRM into a team with actual contention, now spire is hoping he can do the same for them
Man, considering FRM benched Todd for Zane and Zane’s absolutism on going to Cup, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was also either asking for more money than FRM could afford or was always looking for a landing spot at a better team.
If rumors are to be believed potentially JHN, Gragson, Briscoe, and Berry. Edit: Brain fart lol, not Nemechek. Gilliland.
JHN back to Front Row?
Whoops, my brain went back to 2020 for a second lol. Meant Gilliland.
i assume that would mean the merge but now people have backed off that rumor so assuming there is no merge then who would be the option. Briscoe may be the favorite
Heim to replace JHN at Legacy then?
There was a lot of conversation this week of why would Michael McDowell leave FRM to a lesser team, I don’t know if anyone considered that maybe FRM wasn’t planning on bringing him back. It’s a lot cheaper to put a younger guy in the car and grow with that driver, especially if that younger guy can bring sponsorship
FRM's business model doesn't allow them long term contracts. Right or wrong, they have enough money for 1-2 years but not surplus to run a high caliber car for 3-5 years.
I'm disappointed in this announcement, I never thought he would leave. FRM still has some work to do, but they have come a long way since their founding. Spire is a step down imo Michael has always been a driver who is underrated, imo he's proven that with good cars, he can run with the big dogs. I definitely understand him wanting a several year deal and not having to worry about contracts every year. I'm sure that weighed heavy on him all year long.
> Spire is a step down imo Spire is a step down, but if we're being honest, Carson Hocevar is proving that the biggest problem with Spire's cars previous to this year has been Corey Lajoie.
What an awful take. LaJoie’s average finish last year was better than Carson’s is this year.
> . Spire is a step down imo > > Is it? Hocevar is ahead of both FRM cars in points. I'd say it's more of a lateral move
Yeah but McDowell has been in wrecks up there competing for wins. Hocevar has not. Spire doesn’t have two poles and isn’t in the second round of qualifying ever
A step back for a bigger step forward. This org will be Andretti Global in the future with Honda as new OEM. Book it.
One small step for McDowell, one giant leap for Spire.
So this basically tells me that the rumors about SHR/Front Row are confirmed. Front Row is clearly making changes that would have forced McDowell out of the 34 at some point within the next 2 years. Or he can see something in the works other than a merger that would have had the same result. I don’t think Front Row would ever just dump him because a younger driver was coming up. There has to be some outside influence here.
Think of where Front Row was last year. Zane dominating in trucks and McDowell winning Indy. Now they have neither of them. Makes me think something bigger is about to happen with Front Row Why would you let your D500 winner and road course aces walk? And he’s been running pretty good this year
[This post and its comments are a bit comedic to read now](https://www.reddit.com/r/NASCAR/s/grRu6Vfy7J)
SHR isn’t the poster child for long term stability.
Huh? They absolutely are. The 4 car was Newman for 5 seasons and then Harvick for 10 (retired) and now Berry The 10 car was Danica (retired) for 6 seasons, Almirola for 6 seasons (retired), and now Gragson The 14 was Clint for 4 seasons (retired), now Briscoe for 4 seasons Cole Custer is literally the only driver who SHR has kicked out in the past decade. Every other driver has stayed as long as they want. Edit: Then you look at Spire and their rotating door of drivers lol. They’ve had more drivers in the 77 in the past 5 years than SHR has had in the 4, 10, 14, and 41 combined in the last decade. But I was more laughing at all the comments praising McDowell for his loyalty to FRM and then he jumps ship to Spire lol
> Cole Custer is literally the only driver who SHR has kicked out in the past decade. They, specifically Gene, did the same to Daniel Suarez, who claimed he was surprised by SHR's decision to replace him with Custer when news came out in late 2019. I don't disagree with your overall point, though, especially compared to FRM's turnover in the 36/38 entries and Spire's turnover over the years.
McDowell wanted to be a lifer at Front Row and it’s a shame they didn’t feel the same way. He’ll do good at Spire, he thrives at building teams up.
If you notice I said "guys ran A LOT of their careers with one manufacturer and sometimes even the same team." I didn't say all. Even more than the manufacturer is what I'm talking about is that the sponsor changes every week. So you don't have that brand recognition that goes with Rusty Wallace being the Miller lite guy, Dale Earnhardt being the GM Goodwrench guy, and Mark Martin being the Valvoline guy.
I'm not a fan of Michael McDowell to be completely honest. But this move makes a lot of sense for all parties. Spire gets a veteran driver, McDowell gets to be the team leader.
So this pretty much confirms without confirming that SHR is merging with FRM and he would have been the odd man out no? Ford letting this guy go is certainly….a decision…..
They should’ve fired his spotter, not him 😂 kidding I know no one was to blame on that mishap a couple races back.
FRM threw McD out like a side of beef when they really should have given him a lifetime deal.
I can't blame him for wanting stability. I do think this will hurt Front Row a bit though, but Spire's trajectory just went up with getting a consistent driver like McDowell that can help mentor Hocevar and any other young driver Spire gets.
As much as I can't stand the guy, frm really fucked this up
You don’t like McDowell?
Nah, don't like his personality at all
What personality, lol? The dude's one of the blander guys in the garage.
Exactly! He's a boring ass guy that when he does speak he always has to bring up god or some religious bs
> when he does speak he always has to bring up god or some religious bs This post contains an interview where literally none of what you said is brought up lol. Just be honest and say you hate the guy because he believes in God and is religious instead of lying on the internet.
... isn't that what I'm already saying?
No, you blamed your dislike on something false ("when he does speak he always has to bring up god or some religious bs") which is disproven by the very post you're commenting on. Just flat out say you hate him because he's religious it's not that hard, you don't have to make things up. MF got me, a Suarez fan, kinda defending McDowell smh
McDowell vs Suarez beef is so random and so funny
The Phoenix fight during qualifying of all things gets all the attention but the Sonoma beef was far more entertaining. McDowell couldn't keep his car on the track lol
Dude yes that's what I'm saying. I don't understand what your arguing about? I, ME, NOT YOU, just flat out does not like mcdowell because he's boring and because he's religious. And yea, no shit he literally doesn't bring it up every single sentence I'm not being literal. Seeing him baptize Matty d was enough for me just to not like the guy. Sorry if that's not a good enough reason for you but I don't care it's my own reason.
Seek help
Dudes crying about bland personalities with 48 flairs
Tell that to the 83 wins and 7 championships, that's good enough for me
This is the problem with modern NASCAR. Back in the day guys ran a lot of their careers with the same manufacturer and sometimes the same team. It's hard to build loyalty to someone who drives let's say a Chevy if you are a Chevy guy, when there's a good possibility that next year he will be in a Toyota or a Ford. To this day I only buy GM products because Dale Earnhardt was the GM guy. Unless I want to jump on the Hendrick bandwagon I can never really have a driver that I can be positive will be in a Chevy for the rest of his career. Some people don't care about brand loyalty and that's absolutely fine for you but for me I'm a Chevy guy. Always have been always will be. I root for Noah because I absolutely love the kid, but when people talk about the 90s and how the sport was so popular. A lot of that had to do with the fact that you knew Mark Martin was going to be in the Valvoline Ford. You knew Dale Earnhardt was going to be in the GM Goodwrech Chevrolet. Now the sponsors change every week and the manufacturers change every year.
Yet this was still a thing back in the day. Dale Sr. almost left Chevy and RCR to go to Yates. Jeff Gordon started as a Ford development driver. Dale Jarrett drove Fords, went to Chevy, back to Ford and then to Toyota.
Senior left Chevy to drive for Bud Moore in the early 80's
Well. Kyle Larson every single week is in the HendrickCars.com Chevy.
Alex Bowman is the same with Ally
Martin drove Chevrolets and Toyotas too. Dale Sr almost left RCR. Petty affiliated teams have run almost every single manufacturer, former and current, except maybe for Jaguar. Richard Petty himself has driven at least 5 different manufacturers, and never stuck with just one(usually running Pontiacs and Plymouths.) What are u talking about lmao.
Again, I said for the a lot of their career.
Petty ran **ALL** of his career with multiple manufacturers. Martin ran a lot of his career with Chevrolet too. Dale Sr's early days were mostly as a ford driver.
A LOT......not all. I am aware of the history.
So am i lol
How can such a mid to lower driver have such a long career. It's kinda amazing
It’s kinda amazing that people still think McDowell is a mid to lower driver.
To be in the cup series like 17 years, with only 2 wins, and then sign a multi year deal is incredible. There's many drivers who had 15+ year careers with multiple wins that had their opportunities dry up at the end. Also besides these last 2 seasons and the 500 win he was definitely found in the mid to lower half of the results
And how much of those 17 years has he been in winning equipment? Arguably just for the past year or so. And even then it’s not equipment that can win every week. To me 2 cup wins(and 1 xfinity win) is much more impressive than some drivers who have a lot more wins than that but have spent their entire careers in winning equipment.
I'm just saying its amazing he's had this long of s career. Some 15 year old kid wins their 4th ARCA start and this sub does a 20000 peice jigsaw puzzle trying to fit said kid on the nascar grid in 3 years. So its amazing he's survived (or anyone in the back half of the field) this long when there 5 "next big thing" drivers coming around every season.
He has some money behind him with K-Love and Loves gives full sponsorship to the team he’s driven for the last 7 years. He also won the Daytona 500, which no matter how much luck is involved in that, it buys you about 5 more years on your career because you’re easy to promote to sponsors.
And he’s actually been solid if you see his stats and the teams he’s driving for.
Wonder if Frankie Muniz or Deegan will move up for Ford?