McDowell set for Sprint Cup debut

The 23-year-old is a development driver for Michael Waltrip Racing and is expected to be a contender for Rookie of the Year when he steps up to race for the team in Reutimann's place.

McDowell has an open-wheel background, having won the Star Mazda title in 2004 and made two starts for Rocketsports in Champ Car in 2005, but he has recently made a successful switch to stock cars and is looking forward to his first outing.

"I can't believe the time is finally here," he said. "I can't underestimate how difficult it's going to be. I could act confident and say it's going to be easy, but we all know there have been a lot of great drivers that haven't been able to do it."

McDowell made his stock car debut in the ARCA series in 2006 and finished runner-up in the championship last season and also took the Rookie of the Year honours. He is guaranteed a start in Sunday's race because Reutimann's entry is in the top 35 places in the current owner standings.

Veteran open-wheel race engineer turned NASCAR crew-chief Bill Pappas, who won the Indy 500 with Juan Pablo Montoya and the IRL title with Scott Dixon, will work alongside McDowell on his debut.

"It's a relief that we are in the race, but we will still put pressure on ourselves to qualify well," McDowell added. "I feel really comfortable about qualifying. I had nine poles in ARCA last year and I've been able to qualify pretty well in all the other series I've been in.

Despite Sunday's race being his first in the Sprint Cup, it won't be McDowell's maiden outing at Martinsville. He made raced in the Craftsman Truck Series at the half-mile oval last year, finishing 30th.