Any time a Cup Series track is repaved, drivers are forced to redraw their strategies on how to tackle it. Sonoma Raceway underwent a repave after the end of the 2023 season and is now a different animal from what it once was. This upgraded version of the track required a new tire game from drivers last Sunday, and Michael McDowell for sure had a lot of fun finishing in fourth place.
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He was on Door, Bumper, Clear when Freddie Kraft asked him about the tire strategy he used. McDowell detailed how the track used to have high tire degradation before the repave and mentioned that he was quite good at managing the rubber and making them last. At the same time, he admitted to feeling equally good at tracks like Watkins Glen and Chicago that required speed from him every lap.
So, under which category did the new surface of the Sonoma Raceway fall this time? He said, “I enjoyed the challenge of both. It was very interesting though. We unloaded at Sonoma Lap 1. I mean, I spun out, man.
“I can’t tell you if I’ve spun out on a road course by myself in the last 20 years. It just doesn’t typically happen. But it was three or four seconds slower than we thought it was going to be.”
McDowell continued to point out how the track was super slick and that it required him to drive on the edge. But he also had to remind himself constantly not to overslip or spin again, and to make the tires last. At one point, he had to race 50 laps on a set of tires that were designed to last closer to 20. The challenge this presented appears to have brought him a whole lot of fun.
Thanks to the fourth-place result, McDowell moved up four spots on the points table and now sits in 19th place. Six more races are left in the regular season, and while it’s unlikely he could get into the playoffs by winning one of them, he can still do so based on points. As things stand, 20 points separate him and 16th-placed A.J. Allmendinger. His next race will be at the Dover Motor Speedway.
The mission assigned to McDowell at the beginning of the season was to spearhead Spire Motorsports’ driver lineup, that includes Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley, to success. It is questionable if he has achieved that. Hocevar sits further behind him, 24th on the table while Haley is 32nd.
