Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Michael McDowell, who is on pace for a career high average finish this season (25th) for Leavine Family Racing's No. 95 car. McDowell finished 16th last week at Talladega Superspeedway.

Q: What is an errand or chore in your daily life people might be surprised to learn you do yourself?

A: I’ve changed diapers for the last seven years straight. The gaps in my kids’ ages, for whatever reason, we haven’t had a free moment yet. So for seven years, my wife (Jami) and I have been changing diapers. There’s never been a time we haven’t been changing them. We’re getting close, though; our littlest one is 2 and she’s pretty excited about being potty trained, so she’s almost there. We’re almost free.

Q: If you could do any race over again, which race would you choose?

A: Road America, 2011. I led most of the race (30 laps led after starting from the pole) and got through two of the three green-white-checkereds and didn’t get through the last one. That was my first time ever being in position to win a race in NASCAR and I was so close.

What happened? I don’t remember.

(Jacques) Villeneuve and (Max) Papis got together, and it was just a melee the next two restarts. I ended up sliding off and getting together with Justin Allgaier. Then he ran out of gas and Reed Sorenson ended up winning, and he wasn’t even in the top five before that. It was a crazy race.

Q: The longest race of the year is 600 miles. How long of a race could you physically handle without a driver change?

A: You get in a zone, so I think you could keep going for awhile. When I ran sports cars and we’d run the 24 hour, the max you were allowed to go was three hours. But those cars were much more physical and hotter, and after those three hours, you were done. You couldn’t do 10 more minutes. But these races, the seats are better, they're a little cooler, you’re getting something to drink. So I think 800 miles would be a good number.

Q: Let’s say president of NASCAR was an elected position voted on by the drivers and you decided to run. What would one of your campaign promises be?

A: To reduce costs in general. Even the big teams aren’t making it financially; they’re being subsidized by their owners or their owners’ companies. It’s just so expensive from the top down. There are very few teams who are profitable.

Q: At the start of this year, exactly 2,900 drivers had ever raced in the Sprint Cup Series. Where do you rank among those 2,900?

A: Oh wow. I don’t know, actually. I mean, I haven’t had a very awesome career in the Sprint Cup Series, but it’s probably better than some. I’d probably fall in the 1,500 range.

I bet you’re higher than that when thinking about guys from the early days.

I don’t know. It’s hard to know back then how difficult it was. Guys were doing so much more. They weren’t just driving; they were working on their own cars, they were getting it to and from the track. You put some of those guys with that grit and tenacity into this circle now, and they’d probably be pretty good.

Q: What do you think your reputation is and is that reputation accurate?

A: I don’t know what it is. You’d have to ask somebody else in their 12 Questions. I think people seem to respond well to me in the garage. I get a reputation on the racetrack of pushing it pretty hard and racing people pretty hard. Just ask Clint Bowyer.

Q: A famous chef wants you to invest in the new restaurant he’s opening, but he wants you to pick the cuisine. What type of food would your restaurant serve?

A: Just homemade stuff. I’ve thought about this: How cool would it be to go to a restaurant that’s like a kitchen? There’s no menu. If you want meatloaf, you can have meatloaf. If you want pancakes, you can have pancakes. It would all be made from scratch. You’d just come in and they have the ingredients and they make it. It’d be fun.

Q: What is the most daring thing you’ve done outside of racing?

A: Bungee jumping. I’m not much of a daredevil anymore. You take enough of a chance at Talladega.

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Q: In a move to generate more excitement, NASCAR decides in an upcoming race they’re going to require every driver to have a passenger in the car. You get to pick the passenger. Who do you choose?

A: That would be awesome. Probably my owner, Bob (Leavine). He watches it and he knows it and understands it, but to sit there and be part of it, I think it would be cool for him. I’ve given my wife a lot of ride-alongs and it wouldn’t be that thrilling, because she likes it and enjoys it. It’s more fun when somebody is in sheer panic. That’s the best, when someone is like, “Slow down!”

Q: How often do you talk inside the car without hitting the radio button?

A: All the time. I try to keep my extracurricular comments to myself. You have to be disciplined to do it, but it’s just not that helpful to hit the button.

Q: Who will win the Sprint Cup in 2021?

A: I don’t think it will be anyone new. I think it will be someone who is doing it now, like a Kyle Larson or Joey Logano.

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Q: I’ve been asking each driver to give me a question for the next interview. The last driver was Regan Smith, and he wanted to know what your recently adopted Chinese son (Lucas, 3) thinks about the cars and being around racing.

A: I think any kid loves cars – it doesn’t matter where you’re from. As he’s learned more English and been around it, he seems to enjoy it a lot. When I come home, even if I’m wearing a polo shirt or whatever, he’s like, “Daddy race car!” He puts the two together. He loves it. He plays with cars at home. The first few times, he was a little scared of the noise at the track, but he’s gotten used to it.

And do you have a question for the next interview? It’s Alex Bowman.

How good does it feel to be Alex Bowman right now?

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck