Within the NASCAR world, Michael McDowell has established himself as one of the greats. Dedicated and determined to improve his craft at every facet of the sport, McDowell has achieved affluent success throughout his career, including winning the 2021 Daytona 500 as a 100-1 underdog, as well as winning the 2004 Star Mazda Championship.
In last year’s Daytona 500, McDowell cruised to a victory after he managed to avoid a fiery crash involving several racers that occurred during the final lap. This year, he placed first in the third practice, with a time of 46.71 seconds and a top speed of 192.6 mph, but placed seventh in the actual 2022 Daytona 500, which took place last Sunday, February 20. In that iteration of the big race, Austin Cindric beat out Bubba Wallace by a mere 0.036 seconds to take first place.
McDowell has seen recent success off of the track as well, penning a new deal with CELSIUS CELSIUS Energy Drink. McDowell has been a fan and frequent buyer of the drink for over a decade, and now he has become a representative of CELSIUS and its brand.
“It really came about pretty organically,” McDowell tells Celeb Secrets reporter Chris Kirsch in an exclusive interview. “I’ve been drinking CELSIUS for over ten years now, I’ve been a customer for a long time. And through that, through different relationships at the race track I was able to meet a few of the key people at CELSIUS, and have a friendship and kind of strike up a ‘hey, I saw you guys at CELSIUS, I use the product’ and stayed in contact and, over the last two years we’ve been able to form this partnership, as they’ve grown and as my brand has grown as well. So it’s really easy. But I didn’t have to change anything, I was already drinking CELSIUS every day, and now I don’t have to pay for it, so it’s even better!”
McDowell, a member of Front Row Motorsports, has joined Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing, as well as the entire Kaulig Racing team, to become a representative of the ever-growing and expanding CELSIUS Energy Drink brand.
We caught up with McDowell in an interview on Saturday (February 19), one day before his big race, to discuss his 2021 championship, preparation and training methods, CELSIUS Energy Drinkdeal, and much more.
Check out the full Q&A below and don’t forget to let us know if you follow NASCAR or enjoy CELSIUS Energy Drink by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
You can connect with Michael by giving him a follow on Instagram at @mc_driver.
Celeb Secrets: So, first of all, I want to say, congratulations on winning last year’s Daytona 500! That must be such an accomplishment! How did it feel to win it for the first time and become a champion?
Michael McDowell: “It was amazing, you know, for so many years I’ve been grinding it out in the sport, trying to stay in it. Not always the best situation or the best rides, hoping to one day have an opportunity and have a shot to win a race. And you know, the biggest thing for me was going so long and so many races for so many years, not losing hope getting that victory. So winning the 500 last year meant a lot to myself, and my family, and my team, and so many of my partners. The thing is that there’s a lot of people in your career that sacrifice a lot for you to be where you’re at, you know, I got to live out a dream and to experience it.”
CS: You’re back in it this year, how confident are you about winning it again tomorrow?
MD: “I feel really good. You know, I think the Daytona is one of those races that a lot can happen. But we’ve had great speed weeks, we’ve been fastest in two of the four practices. I finished second in our duel, so starting up front, had a fast car all week, and so everything’s been going really well. So we feel confident going into tomorrow, you know, it’s one of those things where anything can happen, but we just continue to put ourselves in position, and hopefully get there at the end when it counts.”
CS: How do you train and prepare for an event like this, both physically and mentally? What steps do you take?
MD: “Mentally is really the biggest part of Daytona. There’s other race tracks you go to, you know, in the summer, or a short track, something of high intensity, high G loads where it becomes more physical. But mental is the biggest part of tomorrow and the race, you know, a lot can happen, as you said. So putting yourself in a good position, making calculated decisions in milliseconds when it counts, at 200 miles an hour you gotta be laser-sharp and laser-focused. So the mental aspect of it is really important, and then just situational awareness, which is a mental element as well: you gotta know who you’re around, you gotta feel what other cars are doing, and are they moving around too much, are they getting squirrely when they get a push, are they being too aggressive? And so, it’s really a chess match at 200 miles an hour. So mental sharpness is a really important aspect.”
CS: With that mental aspect comes concentration, and NASCAR must require a certain level of concentration. How do you achieve that concentration behind the wheel?
MD: “There’s a lot of elements to it. I think there’s the training that you do your entire career that leads you up to that point. Being in those high-pressure situations, the physical training, part of it is a key component. Nutrition is a key component, all the things that are gonna help you think clearly and really perform at a high level. And I’m really thankful to have a partner like CELSIUS that helps me stay laser-focused, helps me to be able to have the energy I need to make those split-second decisions when they count. And all that goes into play into how you’re gonna be able to put yourself in that position.”
CS: Take us through what you were thinking during the final moments of last year’s Daytona 500. Were you nervous at all, or were you confident?
MD: “You don’t really—at least for me—you don’t really think about “I could win” or all those things, you just think about the moment of what do I need to do to position myself to win? And, I’m thinking about what the other cars around me are gonna do, and when they’re gonna do it, when they’re gonna make their move, and how I’m gonna counter that move. And so you never allow yourself to think like, ‘wow, I could win this race,’ you just have to stay really focused in the moment, and just try to execute everything perfectly. And so, I do remember all of it, but at the same time, like I said, I wasn’t coming to the white flag thinking like ‘oh, I could win this,’ I was coming to the white flag, thinking of what I needed to do, how I needed to do it, to give myself the best opportunity to win.”
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CS: Mike, you’ve been in a lot of races over your career. Are there any others that stick out to you?
MD: “I mean, this is the race, you know, this is our sport’s biggest race, Daytona 500. So out of all of them, this is the one you want, right? But like you said, there’s other races and there’s other tracks, and there’s what I’d call ‘crown jewel’ races that we have. But nothing compares to the Daytona 500, and it’s been that way for a long time in our sport. And so this is the one that everyone wants, this is the trophy that everyone wants to have, and it’s a privilege to be a Daytona 500 champion. Obviously you want to win everywhere, and you want to win at all the tracks. But if you were forced to only win one, this is the one you want to win.”
CS: How proud was your family when you won the Daytona 500?
MD: “It’s huge, because your family sees the highs and the lows, the ups and the downs, and in our sport there’s one winner and 39 losers, every week. And so that’s tough, that’s tough when you go 15 years without a win, and have moments when you’re close and it doesn’t happen. But it’s also been a great opportunity, a great training ground for my kids to see that it’s not always easy, it’s not always good, you’re not always winning, but you need to fight hard, give it everything you have, you stay in the game, you stay focused. So it’s very rewarding for them to see me get the victory lane and what it meant, and it definitely something special that we cherish, for sure.”
CS: Let’s talk about your collaboration with CELSIUS, the energy drink. How did that come about exactly?
MD: “It really came about pretty organically. I’ve been drinking CELSIUS for over ten years now, I’ve been a customer for a long time. And through that, through different relationships at the race track I was able to meet a few of the key people at CELSIUS, and have a friendship and kind of strike up a ‘hey, I saw you guys at CELSIUS, I use the product’ and stayed in contact and, over the last two years we’ve been able to form this partnership, as they’ve grown and as my brand has grown as well. So it’s really easy. But I didn’t have to change anything, I was already drinking CELSIUS every day, and now I don’t have to pay for it, so it’s even better!”
CS: It has to mean a lot that you have experience with the drink, so how does it feel to represent CELSIUS?
MD: “It’s fun, I think that they’re a growing brand and it’s been awesome to see them be able to get into so many markets, and everywhere you go now you can get CELSIUS and you can see it. So it’s been fun to watch that growth, to see their journey, and my career’s been on that same journey, that slow growth, and getting better and better every year. So it’s fun to do that together and collaborate, and yeah, I’m thankful for the partnership and the friendship there. It’s been fun, you know, we’ve had some good moments already this week, and hopefully tomorrow we can get back to victory lane.”
CS: That’s great! I actually haven’t had CELSIUS before, I’ll have to try it.
MD: “I’ll buy one for ya!”
CS: Thank you, I appreciate that! And finally, just to conclude, after tomorrow’s race, what’s next in store for you and your career? Any ideas, or just go with the flow?
MD: “Well, the good thing about our sport is that there’s 36 races so, regardless of what happens tomorrow night, next week we’ll head to California and do it all over again. So you got a lot of opportunities to get to victory lane, to make it happen, that’s the long season. And so it’s just taking it one year at a time, one race at a time, and hopefully this will be a year to remember.”
CS: Well, Michael, thank you so much for doing this interview, and again, congratulations on winning the Daytona 500, and I wish you the best of luck in tomorrow’s race!
