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THE RACE

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Kentucky Speedway
Saturday, September 20, 2014

THE RESULTS

No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
Driver: Michael McDowell
Starting Position: 8
Finish Position: 8
Owners' Points Position: 1

THE RACE REVIEW

· Making his first start for Team Penske, Michael McDowell qualified the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the eighth position during Saturday’s knockout qualifying session at Kentucky Speedway.

· Once the race went green, McDowell was able to make his way up to the sixth position before the first caution came out on lap five.  McDowell radioed to the team his Mustang was good, but tight in the middle and free off. The team elected to stay out and McDowell would restart from the sixth position.

· McDowell was able to make his way up to third and maintained position until the second yellow flag on lap 24. The caution gave the 22 crew an opportunity to fix the loose handling Mustang. Crew chief, Jeremy Bullins called for a track bar adjustment, two tires and fuel.   McDowell would restart the 200-lap event from the fifth position.

· During a long green-flag run, the Discount Tire Ford became extremely loose.  Despite the ill-handling issues, McDowell was able to hold onto the fifth position until lap 61.

· After the second round of pit stops, McDowell was able to make his was up to the fourth position. The car was tighter on the short run, but eventually over the long run, McDowell radioed to the team the Ford was freeing up.  

· On lap 169, the team made their final pit stop of the race under yellow.  Bullins called for a track bar adjustment, fuel and two tires in order to gain track position. McDowell would restart third with just 19 laps remaining.

· McDowell was able to charge up to the second before another restart when he fell back to fifth. Ultimately,  McDowell would fall to eighth place as the checkers flew.

· The top-10 finish allowed the No. 22 Team Penske group to extend their lead in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owners’ Championship.   They now have a 37-point lead over the No. 54 of Joe Gibbs Racing.
    

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, NO. 22 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD MUSTANG

YOU WERE ABLE TO EXTEND THE OWNERS’ POINTS LEAD FOR TEAM PENSKE. CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH YOUR RACE?

“First off, I just want to thank the entire 22 crew, Discount Tire and Roger Penske for the opportunity. They come to the track every weekend with a car that is capable of winning. I've been in these high-pressure situations in the past with Joe Gibbs Racing going in over the years. There's a lot at stake and I realize that.  Obviously this is a car that's won four races already this year and runs up front every week. For me, I really just took this race as the same as I would have in the past - go out there and do the best I can and try to get the most out of the race car that I can and hopefully the results will come from that. We were able to get up to the second position before one of the final yellows. I thought we had a chance if the race ran green to the end. But the caution came out and restarting on the bottom in second, I just got ran over and fell back. Today I wanted to go out and win so bad and I felt we could but in the end we were able to race for the big picture. We needed a decent finish to capitalize on the 54’s misfortunate circumstance, to extend the lead in the Owners’ Championship and we were able to do that tonight. Overall, we had a great race, I had a great time and could not be more appreciative for the opportunity to race a Team Penske car.”