(Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)
SONOMA, Calif. — Michael McDowell felt that he had a car capable of winning Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, but a slow stop in the closing laps instead relegated him to seventh.
While on pit road under yellow with 17 laps to go, McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team got hung up on the right front tire. He lost eight spots, dropping outside the top 10 for essentially the first time all afternoon.
After the choose rule, McDowell restarted in 13th and climbed six spots in the final 15-lap sprint to finish in the top 10 and somewhat salvage a day that had so much promise.
“I’m proud of everybody at Front Row. They brought a really fast car and had a shot at it,” McDowell said after the race. “We almost executed all day, it’s just that last stop. We came off pit road 12th or 13th and thankfully we were able to get back up to seventh and get a top 10, but I felt like we had a car that could contend today, so proud of the effort. Thanks to Love’s Travel Stops and all of our partners. We needed the win and we just didn’t do it.”
McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion, showed off his speed all weekend, qualifying third and recording points and the end of each stage. As the laps ticked down in Stage 3, McDowell passed Joey Logano to get back to third before pitting with 34 laps to go, a lap later than leader Martin Truex Jr.
McDowell lost a few spots to drivers who pit sooner than the No. 34 team but once stops completely cycled back through, the 38-year-old from Avondale, Arizona found himself back in the mix.
Though the race didn’t end how McDowell would have liked with the slow stop, he’s still encouraged about the afternoon.
(Photo: Aaron Brink | The Podium Finish)
“Our pace was good all day. It wasn’t a fluke,” McDowell said. “We qualified well and ran up there. We had really good long-run speed, but just needed to fire off a bit better. I just needed that last stop to go smooth and come off pit road third or second and have a shot of winning the race. We didn’t do it.”
Through 16 regular-season races, McDowell is 19th in driver’s points but just 14 points below the cutline. Five of the final 10 races before the NASCAR Playoffs are on road courses or at superspeedway-style tracks, both places where he thrives at.
McDowell acknowledged that winning is the simplest way to make it into the postseason, but he isn’t ruling out pointing his way into a second appearance in three years.
“I think we can [point our way in], but that’s not what we came to do. We wanted to win because that gives you all the points you need,” McDowell said. “I think we saw today had that caution not fallen in between the stages, we would have probably scored a third and a fifth in the stages. If you can do that at all the road courses, I’m gonna score 40-50 points over all of them.
“I’m thankful for the effort we put in, thankful for the speed that we had and still got some areas we need to improve and we’ll be there.”
After an off week, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Nashville Superspeedway on June 25.
