"There's no chance Spire is a tier one Chevy team" - Bubba Wallace spotter stunned by Michael McDowell's bold move to Spire Motorsports

Michael McDowell's departure from Tier One Front Row Motorsports (FRM) to Spire Motorsports at the end of the 2024 season seemingly didn't have all the support from NASCAR insiders. McDowell recently announced that he is gearing up for a new home in a multi-year contract with Spire Motorsports to pilot the #71 Chevy, starting from the 2025 Cup Series season.

Freddie Kraft, spotter for 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace shared his opinion on the Door Bumper Clear podcast about the transition of the 2021 Daytona 500 winner to a new home next season.

In the conversation, Freddie Kraft talked about FRM being a Tier One Ford Team, a key partner with comparatively better resources, and better financial support and backing to the racing teams from the manufacturers.

"There are a lot of rumors out there that the front row(Motorsports) is taking a major step forward. We already know that they're probably going to be a tier-one partner. You're (Michael McDowell) leaving a key partner now at the front row (FRM) to go to a second tier," Kraft said.(0:34)

The NASCAR spotter also claims that Spire Motorsports won't become a key partner with Chevrolet as early as next year. He also thinks that staying at FRM would have made the same impact on McDowell's career as far as the new opportunity is concerned at Spire.

"I mean, there's no chance Spire (Motorsports) is a tier-one Chevy team next year. So this was a multi-year deal and you get that security and that's a big deal over there. And they're going to do whatever it takes to get the best people in-house over there to advance their program. And this is no different," Kraft added.

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Michael McDowell is confident about his move to Spire Motorsports

Michael McDowell, the current #34 driver for FRM, has decided to shift his home to Spire Motorsports at the end of the 2024 season. The 39-year-old believes that Spire has vast potential in terms of building a better and greater team in the organization.

In the "performance-driven sport", McDowell shared why he is so confident with this move in an interview (via Racing America):

"I wouldn't be making the move that I'm making if I didn't have confidence that the performance is going to be there and the potential is going to be there to get the performance out of the race car. So, I feel good about that."

"There's a great opportunity to build and continue to build for the years to come," McDowell added.

The Phoenix, Arizona native is set to pilot the #71 Chevy along with #7 Corey LaJoie and #77 Carson Hocevar under the new banner at Spire.