NASCAR Driver Witnesses God’s Love Through Son’s Miraculous Adoption Story

Published: July 1, 2025

By Mallory Mattingly

2021 Dayton 500 winner Michael McDowell shared what his son Lucas’ adoption story teaches the race car driver about God.

“Adoption is a choice. And so the connection is different, but at the same time, God chose us, right? And like, even while we were sinners, He chose us,” McDowell reflected on the “Sports Spectrum Podcast.”

In a video with NASCAR on FOX, McDowell and his wife, Jami, revealed that Lucas was found on a street in China when he was just five days old. His first three years of life were in an orphanage.

“He held me like I was his dad,” McDowell said of the moment he met Lucas. “It’s hard to explain to people, but he just looked like my son.”

Lucas has had physical challenges. He was born with missing digits on his hands and feet and had cleft hands and feet.

“There are areas that are deeper, there are areas that are tougher, that are struggles. But it’s amazing,” McDowell said of adoption. “It’s just a reminder of God’s goodness. Like, we started that adoption process before he was ever even born.”

The McDowells brought Lucas home from China in 2016. The couple knew they wanted to adopt early on in their relationship.

“That was our plan,” McDowell told NASCAR in 2016. “We were going to have one and then we were going to adopt one. We felt like with our lifestyle and travel and everything, two is manageable. But God had other plans, and while we were waiting we had two more, so now we’ll be at four.”

Though he and his wife knew raising four kids would be a challenge, they also believe that “it’s going to be worth it.” They welcomed their fifth child, daughter Isabella, in 2023.

McDowell calls God a “great storyteller and weaver” as he reflects on his family’s story.

“Lucas’s story was being woven together three years before he was even conceived. And God knew that,” he said on the podcast. “He knew that he was going to be in our home before any of these things happened, you know. And so for us, like the divine intervention that it took for all that to happen allows us to just have so much freedom and grace and love in those moments, because we know that this is who God hand-picked for our family.”

For more inspiring sports stories, check out Sports Spectrum.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michael McDowell (@mc_driver)

Though adoption certainly isn’t without its challenges, McDowell and his family have seen God’s immense blessing through it as they learn more about His goodness and providence in their lives.

Questions or comments? Please write to us here.