No. 34 Love's Travel Stop / Peak Ford Mustang Dark Horse:
Back on the Sonoma Raceway road course, Michael McDowell was in his element. Despite starting 12th, McDowell wasted no time getting to the front and contending with the leaders at the beginning of the race. Utilizing good pace and capitalizing on early post-caution restarts, McDowell passed both Trackhouse Racing cars en-route to a sixth-place finish in Stage 1. Seven laps into Stage 2, an unusual caution featuring road course-ringer, Will Brown, forced the No 34 team to early pit for four tires and fuel ahead of schedule. Around lap 40, after another restart for a multi-car incident, McDowell was bumped from behind in the esses and sent into the tire barrier. Fortunately, the No. 34 Love's Travel Stops / Peak Ford Mustang Dark Horse had limited damage to the right front and was able to get serviced on pit road, without losing too much time and track position putting him in 33rd. Luckily, the majority of the leaders pitted before the Stage 2 caution break, allowing McDowell to gain several spots, finishing the stage in 16th. Having fresher tires than those in front at the restart, McDowell climbed to 10th place in the first two laps of the final stage. Long-run speed proved to be the No 34's strength as McDowell picked off opponents and gained track position, reaching as high as seventh, before coming down pit road for the final time with 41 laps to go. After rejoining 24th, McDowell eventually cycled through to seventh with 30 laps remaining. A three-wide pass in Turn 4 helped him around AJ Allmendinger for fifth and eventually passing Kyle Busch in Turn 11 with 13 laps to go, found the No. 34 in fourth. McDowell was able to stay close to the leaders thanks to Chris Buscher, Martin Truex Jr and Kyle Larson all fighting for the lead with less than 10 to go, passing the No. 17 for third with five to go. On the final lap of the race, Truex Jr ran out of gas exiting the esses, allowing McDowell to pass him coming to Turn 11, bringing home the Love's Travel Stop / Peak Ford in second place. The finish was his best of the season, his first Top-5 of the season and was his third-straight Top-10 at the Sonoma Raceway.
Start: 12th
Stage One: 6th
Stage Two: 16th
Race Result: 2nd
DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL:
"The first stage went well for us, just kind of executing our plan and our strategy, but, unfortunately, when we got towards the back on that restart and they piled up in the esses we just got drove into and into the barriers. That really hurt our track position because then we had to come back down pit road and fix the damage and that kind of killed our chances of restarting up front when it did cycle out, but, fortunately, we had a really fast Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang. We were able to get about half of them back before the end of Stage 2, and then the last stage we just had to fight really hard to get track position. I feel like we had the speed today, which it hurts. It hurts to finish second. We desperately need a win to make the playoffs, but I’m proud of the effort and proud of the speed we had, but just a little bit short."
No. 38 Frontline Enterprises Ford Mustang Dark Horse:
Todd Gilliland competed in his third NASCAR Cup Series event at the Sonoma (Calif,) Raceway this past Sunday. Starting 14th in the No. 38 Frontline Enterprises Ford Mustang Dark Horse, his best career qualifying effort at the track, Gilliland was prepared to seize the day. Avoiding the early Stage 1 cautions and picking up spots on the restarts, Gilliland held his own to finish Stage 1 in the 10th position, earning a valuable stage point. Gilliland stayed out to hold his track position at the stage-break caution, picking up a few spots from competitors who pitted. Avoiding the "Big One", Gilliland eventually came to pit road for four tires and fuel, then sent back out to finish where he left off. With fresher tires and pit cycles, Gilliland finished Stage 2 in the 8th position and earning more stage points. Crew Chief Ryan Bergenty kept Gilliland off of pit road after determining that tire wear didn't prove a threat. Hustling his way around track, Gilliland chased down the competitors ahead and played defense on those behind him before coming to pit road for a fuel only stop. Back on track and coming towards the end, Gilliland lost track position, falling back to the 11th position. Coming to the checkered flag, fellow competitor, Martin Truex, ran out of fuel, giving Gilliland the chance to catch up and snag a 10th place finish, his best finish at Sonoma. Gilliland now sits 21st in the Driver Championship points standings.
Start: 14th
Stage One: 10th
Stage Two: 8th
Race Result: 10th
DRIVER TODD GILLILAND:
"We put together a really good race. Ryan (Bergenty) made great strategy calls to put us where we needed to be in the end. It's definitely something we can build on, I think we have the speed to compete within the Top-10 each week if not better and today proved that. I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer stretch and the progress we will make."
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