Following a disappointing 32nd-place finish in Chicago due to a mechanical failure, Michael McDowell declared that the real show would take place at Sonoma.
As it turned out, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion did put on a show, scoring a fourth-place finish in wine country – his best mark of the season and his best finish since Sonoma a year ago.
Before the yellow flag flew for Cody Ware‘s runaway tire with 15 laps to go, McDowell was on a strategy that looked like it could save him from a sub-20th-place finish. Crew chief Travis Peterson had elected to pit McDowell early in the race’s final green flag cycle, giving him a tire advantage early in the run.
McDowell used that advantage to take the lead as the leaders pitted, but with the grip in his Goodyear Eagles fading, it was only a matter of time before Shane van Gisbergen reclaimed the top spot.
McDowell eventually lost the lead and was in danger of losing more positions, but the aforementioned caution for Ware put McDowell and the No. 71 team back on offense. After pitting for four fresh tires alongside Chase Elliott, McDowell had the opportunity to make up ground with a condensed field, the top third of which were on old tires.
Unfortunately, a longer run to the end wasn’t in the cards. Cautions for Noah Gragson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ate away at the number of laps McDowell had to try and get to the front.
But when the checkered flag flew, McDowell had followed Elliott – who made a mistake with three laps to go that took him out of contention – through the chaos and found himself with a fourth-place finish. While McDowell still needs a win to make the playoffs and truly change his season, a season-best effort deserves commendation.
“It was an up-and-down day,” McDowell told Frontstretch. “Obviously, qualifying hurt us a lot not starting near the front. But we were able to get into the top 10 and manage that.”
“There at the end, the strategy to stay out wasn’t playing out and a caution came out and we were able to put tires on it,” McDowell said. “I’m glad we recovered. I felt like we had a top-five car most of the day, top-five speed. It’s good to get the finish I felt like we deserved. But we didn’t have enough today to contend. We were close. We’ll keep building on it, we’ll keep working hard and we’ll see where we end up.”
Despite being a veteran road racer and a known road course ace, McDowell sees van Gisbergen as the target at every road course race.
“He has a lot of pace,” McDowell said. “He’s able to control the race. He’s executing restarts now, he’s executing pit road well and doing all the things with the right pace you need to keep the lead and keep the track position. He’s done an incredible job. He’s made everybody step up their game. I’m looking forward to continuing to try to beat him.”
Perhaps McDowell’s next best chance to win his way into the playoffs will be at Watkins Glen on Aug. 10 – a track where van Gisbergen will most likely be the the favorite after he finished runner-up to Chris Buescher in 2024.
McDowell may not have gotten the win he needed, but he backed up his words and put on a show in Sonoma.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.