On Sunday, Shane van Gisbergen dominated the proceedings to clinch victory at Sonoma Raceway. His third win of the 2025 season, drawing level with Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, who have three wins each. The Kiwi driver has been schooling NASCAR’s road course ringers ever since the Mexico City race, and he’s just one step ahead of the competition. Even the likes of Chase Elliott or Michael McDowell couldn’t match his stride.
Perhaps the only time SVG felt that his road course domination was under threat was in Chicago when McDowell beat him on the very first lap. The veteran driver led the entirety of the first stage and forced the #88 team to make a strategy call. Call it fate or luck, the #71 Chevy had mechanical issues and was forced to pit for repairs, and that allowed SVG to take command again. It looked like Sonoma would provide another opportunity for McDowell to have a go at the Kiwi driver, but nothing changed.
The Spire Motorsports driver finished 4th in the Wine Country, escaping the late race restarts and chaos. However, he admitted that his car was good enough for a top 5 finish, and he didn’t have the speed to challenge SVG.
Michael McDowell feels that the #88 team is on top of their game
“Yeah, it was an up-and-down day. Obviously, qualifying hurt us a lot, not starting near the front, but we were able to get up into the Top 10 and manage that. Then there at the end, the strategy to stay out wasn’t playing out and a caution came out. We were able to put tires on, so I’m glad that we recovered. I felt like we had a Top 5 car most of the day, top 5 speed. So it’s good to get the finish I felt like we deserved. We didn’t have enough today to contend, but we are close and we’ll keep building on it. We’ll keep working hard and we’ll see where we end up,” McDowell said this to Frontstretch.
Sonoma has been a good track for McDowell in the Next Gen era with two top 5s and a top 10. But, starting from 15th it was going to be an uphill climb for him to contest for the lead. However, late race gamble to stay out allowed the #71 team to gain the lead and then pitting alongside Chase Elliott gave them the advantage late in the race. Race results could’ve been different, but the yellow fever never allowed McDowell to utilize fresh Goodyear rubber.
Speaking about SVG’s performance, the veteran driver explained, “He’s got a lot of pace, he’s able to control the race. He’s executing the restarts… and doing all the things with his outright pace that you need to keep the lead and keep the track position. So yeah, he’s done an incredible job, he’s made everybody step up their game and looking forward to continuing to try to beat him.”
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Go Bowling at The Glen Aug 20, 2023 Watkins Glen, New York, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Michael McDowell 34 walks in the garage area prior to the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Watkins Glen Watkins Glen International New York USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xRichxBarnesx 20230820_sns_ai8_007
Well, now that the Kiwi driver will have to deal with oval tracks, McDowell is hoping to get even with him. But the P4 finish was his best result so far in 2025. So, there’s reason for the #71 team to be optimistic and given the current trend, it looks like the final few spots for the playoff might be decided on points.
Playoffs scenario after the Sonoma race
The playoff race remained pretty much the same thanks to Shane van Gisbergen’s consecutive wins. With a trip to Watkins Glen up ahead, who knows he could add another win to his tally, but for three straight weeks, NASCAR will race on traditional ovals. Tyler Reddick had another solid day with a top 10 finish, and with a cushion of almost 150 points, he is likely to make it to the top 16. The biggest mover on the day was Kyle Busch.
With a top 10 finish, Rowdy cut the points deficit to -37 and with oval tracks lined up next, he will look to capitalize on that. The three drivers, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, and Bubba Wallace, remain as they were. Buescher and Bowman settled for a top 20 finish, whereas Wallace had it worse with a 26th-place finish. Not the ideal result, but still, no major shuffles in their points scenario.
McDowell’s top 5 finish didn’t help him make huge leaps as he sits 22nd, -70 points from the cutline. He will need a win to secure his qualification for the playoffs. And the tricky part about this saga is that the likes of Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, and AJ Allmendinger are also within touching distance of each other. So the playoffs race is only going to get more exciting heading into the Dover weekend.
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