BY MICHAEL MAROT<\/p>\n\n\n\n
INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Michael McDowell knelt down at Indianapolis Motor Speedway\u2019s yard of bricks and delivered the sweetest kisses of his racing career Sunday.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The 38-year-old Arizona driver became a Brickyard champ \u2014 and a member of an elite club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McDowell inherited the lead on Lap 53 and never trailed again as he drove the most dominant race of his career, beating Chase Elliott to the yard of bricks by 0.937 seconds for his second NASCAR crown jewel victory while securing a playoff spot. Pole-winner Daniel Suarez was third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McDowell\u2019s only other win was the 2021 Daytona 500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s a big deal,\u201d he said when asked about his second playoff appearance in three years. \u201cWhen we won the Daytona 500, that was one of the coolest moments we ever had. We cherry pick the races, my family comes to the ones we think we can win, and we thought we could win this one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, McDowell\u2019s wife and children also celebrated by kissing the bricks after his 453rd career Cup start. They weren\u2019t at Daytona for his first win.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n While his first win came by navigating traffic following a crash at Daytona, there was no doubt Sunday. McDowell won the first stage, finished behind only Denny Hamlin in Stage 2 and closed it out by leading a career-high 54 laps to give Front Row Motorsports its fourth Cup win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McDowell\u2019s victory put him on the short list of Cup drivers to reach victory lane at Daytona and Indy, a list that includes names such as the late Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jarrett, who introduced the kissing tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And on the annual crossover weekend with the IndyCar Series, McDowell also fittingly joined two of IndyCar\u2019s greatest drivers on the list \u2014 Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt, the only winners of the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n