Once again, Shane van Gisbergen flexed his road course muscles and clinched his second win in 2025. This time around, it was back where it all began at the Chicago Street Course. Having secured the playoff spot in Mexico City, the Kiwi driver swept the weekend with a win in both Xfinity and Cup Series races. However, this second Cup win in the Windy City did have an element of luck involved for SVG, as his closest rival was out of the race due to the mechanical issue.

“You know, I think that he’s had some standout races of no doubt. He’s an amazing talent, but he’s beatable. He’s not unbeatable.” Michael McDowell said this heading into the race weekend. If there was a driver in the Cup garage who could go toe-to-toe with the Kiwi Speedster, it was McDowell, and he was right where he needed to be.

Although Shne van Gisbergen started on pole, the Spire Motorsports driver was on the front row, and he made it clear he was out to win. On the very first corner, he took over the lead, forcing SVG to make a strategy call while he held his lead to win stage 1. And just when things were starting to look up for the #71 team, tragedy struck. McDowell had an issue with his throttle cable, forcing him to head to the pit road. That was it, his day was pretty much done. While he did finish the race 22 laps down using the DVP, the veteran driver was heartbroken after the race.

McDowell told Frontstretch, “Yeah, we just had a throttle cable that broke. Not sure why, but it did. It was unfortunate because we had a fast Chevy, I felt like we had the race under control. We led every lap until the problem, so it’s unfortunate, but proud of everybody at Spire. We’ll figure out what happened and get ready for Sonoma, which is a great race track for me. Can’t undo it, it happened.”

Who knows, maybe he could have dueled with SVG all the way, without the mechanical troubles. The likes of Denny Hamlin were able to overcome their difficulty, but for McDowell, the trouble crept in at the worst possible time. A 32nd-place finish is his worst at the street course in Chicago. He had two top 10 results heading into this race weekend, but this 32nd-place finish will sting for a while.

Can Michael McDowell prevent a third Shane van Gisbergen win?

The good news for Michael McDowell and his team is that they will get another shot at competing against SVG. The NASCAR Cup Series is headed to Sonoma Raceway. In the Next Gen era, McDowell has figured out the 12 turns stretched on the 2.52-mile road course. He has two top 5s and a top 10 finish in the Wine Country. Last year, he finished runner-up just behind Kyle Larson.

Chicago’s street course is rough, but the newly paved surface in Sonoma is where the veteran driver feels he can redeem himself. “The track is different for sure, the new surface there, obviously not as bumpy, super smooth. So not everything applies, but we gotta a good baseline on what we need to do as far as set up wise goes at Sonoma. We were fast there last year and been in a good spot. I’d like to get it done today, so don’t have to worry about it.”

With the playoffs spot on the line, Michael McDowell and his team cannot afford another mechanical issue on a track where he is a clear favorite. For long, the fans have seen SVG’s road course dominance go unchallenged, and McDowell can change that equation this weekend.