SONOMA, Calif. — Michael McDowell was the man to beat on the Chicago Street Course until his throttle cable frayed after leading the opening 31 laps last week.
At Sonoma Raceway, McDowell has already put that disappointment behind him in favor of a confident excitement in Wine Country.
RELATED: Sonoma starting lineup | Cup standings
McDowell started second in Chicago and charged past polesitter Shane van Gisbergen for the top spot immediately, but his mechanical issue on the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet took away his chance to fight for the win.
“You can’t stay disappointed too long in our sport,” McDowell said Saturday. “So Sunday, yeah, it’s very disappointing. Monday, it was all about getting to the root of the issue that we had and why we had it, and what needed to be done to make sure we don’t have something happen here this weekend. And then Tuesday was all about getting prepared for today and tomorrow.
“You just can’t stay in that moment too long. What-ifs don’t count. What-ifs don’t matter in our sport. The only thing that matters is if you get the checkered flag, and we didn’t.”
On his X account Sunday evening, McDowell put his confidence on full display: “Chicago was a preview. The real show’s next weekend (at Sonoma).”
Turning the page to Sonoma is easy for McDowell. The two-time Cup winner has been exceptional at the 1.99-mile road course in the Next Gen car, posting a 4.0 average finish in three races, highlighted by a runner-up finish in 2024. The motivation of what could have been at Chicago adds a touch of fuel to the fire.
“This is one of my best tracks,” McDowell said. “I have a good rhythm here. I have a good feel for what I need. And you’re fired up, right? You felt like you had a race-winning car and you just finished 33rd with it, so you’re ready to move on to the next week.”
Qualifying initially proved strong for McDowell and the No. 71 team, posting the second-quickest time in Group A with the same car they utilized to finish fifth in Mexico City on June 15. But the track was quicker yet for the second half of the field in qualifying in Group B Saturday, dropping McDowell to a 15th-place starting spot for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“That Group 1 session there is definitely going to be a little bit of a hurt,” McDowell said, “just because it’s almost like Formula One — the track’s going to evolve the other way where you’re putting rubber down (and) it’s just going to get faster and faster. But (Sunday), all that will balance out. Hopefully, we get some long runs and slip-sliding around, and we’ll see who can manage all that the best.”
MORE: Field of 16: Assessing playoff bubble
Sitting 24th in the provisional playoff standings, McDowell and his team are aware their path to the postseason relies on a victory. Sonoma provides their next best chance.
“We know what we need to do,” he said. “There’s no emotions around it. We have to win. And it’s very matter of fact; we know that and that’s OK. We’ve been in this spot before. I’ve been in this spot before. Travis (Peterson, crew chief) has been in this spot before, and we’ve been able to rise to the occasion, and I think we will again.”