Sunday’s Daytona 500 featured multiple crashes but in the end, it was Kurt Busch who won the Great American Race on a last-lap pass for his first career Daytona 500 victory.

Michael McDowell, driving the No. 95 KLOVE car, was near the front of the pack for a good portion of the race before finishing 15th for the second straight Daytona 500.

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McDowell, a follower of Jesus, told BeliefNet in 2011 how his walk with Christ began.

“One of my close friends, an employer who was mentoring me and helping me in my career and in life, he passed away. It was a reality check for me and for where I was at and what I was doing. Somebody confronted me at Ron (Huber’s) funeral. A guy named Tom Barnett said, “Where are you at? What do you think about life after death?” He left it at that. God working through all of that led me to a relationship with Christ. That didn’t happen until I really understood what grace and forgiveness was and about starting a new life, not by works and not by earning it and not by anything we can do to deserve it. But it’s only by God’s grace. That was a changing point for me. I knew I couldn’t fix it. I couldn’t start over and I couldn’t do it without Christ. That’s when my life started to transform and I started to go through the constant changing process I’m in now.”

Michael will continue racing in 2017 competing full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 95 Chevrolet SS for Leavine Family Racing.

Photo Credit: Sarah Stierch