Glendale's Michael McDowell rides momentum into inaugural NASCAR Cup race at St. Louis

Don’t look now, but Michael McDowell is heating up.

Although June is just beginning, NASCAR is fully engrossed in a summer state of mind. Within the span of one week, there’s been increased temperatures, fireworks on and off the track and watermelon celebrations courtesy of Ross Chastain.

What do Arizonans do when the grueling summer months arrive? They adapt, and that’s exactly what McDowell is doing at NASCAR’s top level in 2022. The Glendale native and his No. 34 team have caught onto something as of late, compiling four top-10 finishes in their last six starts in the Cup Series.

“I feel like we’re getting a better grip on the setups and different approaches that we need to take,” McDowell told The Republic. “It feels good to finally have some momentum and some confidence going into a couple of fun weeks here, where we feel like we should be really strong.”

Things didn’t start off great for McDowell in the beginning of the year, only managing one top-10 and two lead-lap finishes through eight races. However, everything is going as the 2021 Daytona 500 champion expected at this point of the season.

Not only is the 37-year-old going through the tribulations of learning a brand-new car with a smaller team, Front Row Motorsports, but he’s also developing a rapport with new crew chief Blake Harris — both of which the fresh team leader called a “week-to-week” development.

“This team has a lot that we’re up against,” Harris said. “Lack of information, lack of support. In a lot of areas we take educated guesses at a lot of things week-to-week and that’s why it’s a little bit tough for us to necessarily leave one place and go to the next and think we’ve got it all figured out.

“I think as a whole we’ve outperformed at times that we shouldn’t have, maybe. Even on our bad days a lot of times, we outran a few cars from some of the bigger organizations with a lot more support than we have.”

For a team like Front Row Motorsports, one of the main selling points of the seventh-generation stock car was the closing of the competitive gap from powerhouse teams with an abundance of resources and middle-tier teams with not much assistance from OEMs.

Through 14 races, McDowell has already tied his single-season top-10 record of five, set last year. The handful of quality finishes outranks notable stars such as William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski.

“I felt like this Next Gen car was going to level the playing field and give us more opportunities to show the level of team and program that we are, and I’m feeling like we’re getting an opportunity to do that now,” McDowell said. “I think we’re getting close to having the speed and if we can continue that, there’s going to be a weekend where we hit everything right and we have an opportunity to win a race.”

While teams are still figuring out the ongoing evolution of the Gen-7 car, McDowell and Harris also credit their performance uptick to a calmer culture throughout the shop. In the beginning of the year, there was a mad-dash to produce cars and much uncertainty in reference to potential inventory issues.

Now the team is able to dedicate much needed time on refining methods to improve on-track performance — something crucial when working with the new, finicky stock car.

“The challenge has just been the newness of it,” McDowell said. “Trying to understand what this car needs and where it wants to be and finding that window. The windows are small, so sometimes you hit it, sometimes you miss it. I think the challenge has just been finding that sweet spot and I think we’re honing in on it.”

Thankfully, the feeling of being overwhelmed returns to the traditional norm of being below the cutline for the playoffs more than halfway through the regular season, something McDowell is familiar with overcoming.

While he believes his best shot at a second career victory will come at a track like a Road America or Watkins Glen, where he can flex his road course prowess, he’s looking forward to Sunday's inaugural Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway, just 6.4 miles outside of St. Louis. The green flag drops on the Enjoy Illinois 300 at 12:30 p.m. on FS1.

"Gateway is a fun track," McDowell said. "I feel like this Next Gen car is going to be really competitive there. I think you’re going to see a lot of passing and you’re definitely going to down-shift there — maybe even twice."

McDowell is one of few drivers with experience at the 1.25-mile track, making two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts and one in the ARCA Menards Series, where he finished third and led 38 laps. He was 27th-fastest in the lone practice session Friday, with a time of 33.517 seconds.

“I think anytime you’re familiar with a race track it’s helpful,” McDowell said. “Just having that rhythm and knowing what you’re kind of looking for is always good, but in the Cup Series with all the tools that teams have with simulations and everything that’s available to drivers and teams, it’s really hard to have an advantage these days.

“The pressure definitely ramps up in the summer months to get it done and hopefully we’ll have a shot at it.”

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Glendale's McDowell rides momentum into 1st NASCAR Cup race at St. Louis