“SVG kicking our b*tts frustrated me” - Michael McDowell shares two things that fired him up prior to his win at Indy

Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell earned his second Cup Series victory at the Indianapolis Road Course last week to advance to the 2023 playoffs. Doing so, McDowell proved Denny Hamlin's prediction wrong, who had earlier sided with Chase Elliott.

Along with the itch to prove Hamlin wrong, the #34 Ford driver recently revealed that Shane van Gisbergen's victory on debut was the other factor that forced him to up his game on the road courses.

Gisbergen stunned the world when he outclassed the entire Cup Series grid to win the Chicago Street Race in his maiden start. Michael McDowell, who finished seventh in the street race, said he was fired up after the foreigner had embarrassed the NASCAR drivers.

"Two things that fired me up over the last month and a half is SVG kicking our b*tts at Chicago. That frustrated me, that should never happen. That made me mad enough to go to work like, 'I'm going to figure it out.' Like I got to be better. This is unacceptable," he said in conversation with Denny Hamlin on Actions Detrimental.

"Not taking away what he did, what he did was nothing short of miraculous. I mean unbelievable, but it shouldn't happen. And so that fired me up."

He continued:

"And then this was just a little extra fuel to the fire, right? Like, Man, you're not paying attention. I'm going to wax on is what I felt like saying, right? That's just not me personally but that's what I feel inside."

In his second outing in the Cup Series, Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) got the real measure of NASCAR drivers, who went toe to toe with the 3x Supercars champion. SVG had to settle for a top-10 finish at IMS, the best result among all the road-course ringers.

Michael McDowell surely had the better of the Kiwi driver, as he was the quickest driver all day long.

---

Michael McDowell calls Chase Elliott the best road racer

Chase Elliott hounded Michael McDowell until the final lap of the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis, as both of them desperately wanted to book their playoff spots. McDowell managed to keep the #9 Hendrick Motorsports driver at bay to win the race.

The #34 Front Row Motorsport driver was full of respect for his rival as he called Elliott the "best road racer" in the Cup Series.

"Chase Elliott is the best road racer in the Cup Series. We know that right now. He has the most wins, so you can't statistically say that he's not the best. He is the best," he said in the post-race press conference.

Elliott is one of the most skilled road-course drivers, with seven victories putting him in an elite group. Only Jeff Gordon (nine wins) and Tony Stewart (eight wins) are ahead of him on the all-time road-course winners list.