The NASCAR Cup Series took to the streets of Chicago, Illinois for the inaugural Grant Park 220 this past Sunday.
Starting in sixth, Michael McDowell and the No. 34 Chicago Pneumatic Ford Mustang were destined for a solid run on the 2.2-mile street course. McDowell wheeled his way to fifth to close out Stage 1 in the wet. With track conditions improved, the 34 team elected to put slicks on the Chicago Pneumatic Mustang. McDowell finished Stage 2 in fifth. NASCAR made the call to shorten the race by 25 laps, forcing teams to race aggressively in the final stage of the race. McDowell held strong and finished seventh. McDowell is now 18th in championship points standings.
After suffering a broken toe link in practice, Todd Gilliland and the No. 38 gener8tor Skills Ford Mustang qualified 25th. Starting the race on wets, Gilliland got to work early, showing speed in the gener8tor Skills Mustang and avoiding incidents. Gilliland finished Stage 1 29th. Putting on slicks to start Stage 2, Gilliland moved his way into the Top-20 and finished 16th in the stage. A shortened race brought out aggressive driving for the final stage. Gilliland fought hard and finished 19th.
Todd Gilliland, Driver No. 38 gener8tor Skills Ford Mustang:
“This was a really fun track to race, I hope NASCAR does more like it. We were super fast in practice but unfortunately broke a toe link that put us in a bad qualifying spot. Our gener8tor Skills Ford team never gave up and we came out of Chicago with a top 20.”
Michael McDowell, Driver No. 34 Chicago Pneumatic Compressors Ford Mustang:
“What a wild race – starting in a decent amount of rain and then drying out. Even when it was dry though, there were wet spots which is pretty crazy. Unfortunately, with the race being shortened, our strategy didn’t play out like we wanted. So, we ended up restarting like 18th there. Happy to pass a lot of cars to get back there, but we just didn’t quite have enough to get to the front.”
I think that the weekend was such a great opportunity to put on a really good show and I’m glad we got the race in. We all fought hard.”
The team returns to the Atlanta Motor Speedway next Sunday. The Quaker State 400 is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on the USA Network.
FRM
