Michael McDowell No. 46 Whitney Motorsports Chevrolet Impala Preview: Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Harrisburg, N.C. (September 15, 2010) — When your world is measured in seconds, and more specifically thousandths of a second, even the smallest error can make the biggest of differences. For Michael McDowell, shaking off a small error that kept the Whitney Motorsports team out of the race at Richmond is key to regaining momentum and closing out the season with a solid string of performances, starting this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
With the tight flat corners at NHMS, do you apply any road racing techniques to getting through the turns? "There are some similarities to road racing at New Hampshire. The biggest one is that the braking is similar to a road course. You want to get the car slowed down and pointed into the corner early so you can roll the center of the turn and get on the gas as early as you can and make that straightaway as long as possible. It has a lot of short track characteristics too. I like short track racing, the cars slide around a lot and you feel like as a driver you can make a difference."
What's the biggest challenge to getting the car in the field at New Hampshire? "Not making a mistake like I did last week in Richmond. We had a car plenty capable of making the race. I got into turn 3 to deep and locked the left front tire. It doesn't seem like it very big deal, but when you're talking about the difference in making the race and going home being just a few hundredths of a second, every little bit can either help you or hurt you. You can't let it get to you and over think it, but you do have to keep it in your mind and constantly remind yourself not to make those mistakes."
Now that the Chase field is set, who is your favorite to win? Who is your underdog? Jimmie Johnson is going to win. He has four in a row and until someone proves otherwise there's really no way you can count him out for a fifth. The underdog would probably be Kurt Busch. Hard to believe you can call a former Chase champion an underdog but everyone is when you're going up against Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus."
New Hampshire On-track:
Friday Sept. 17
- 11:30 AM — 1:00 PM NSCS Practice
- 3:10 PM NSCS Qualifying
Saturday Sept. 18
- 9:00 — 9:50 AM NSCS Practice
- 11:30 AM — 12:30 PM NSCS Final Practice
Sunday Sept. 19
- 1:30 PM NSCS Sylvania 300 (300 laps/317.4 miles; Live, ESPN/PRN Radio/Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128)