It was much of the same at Sonoma Raceway as Shane van Gisbergen won his second straight road/street race and his third race overall in the last five weeks. Fortunately for the rest of the field, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to an oval this weekend for Sunday's running of the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
This will be the 21st race of the season and will serve as the penultimate round of the In-Season Challenge, which will see Ty Dillon look to continue his Cinderella run against John Hunter Nemechek while Toyota drivers Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick battle it out for the right to race for the $1 million prize at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27.
The race for $1,000,000 runs through the @MonsterMile. pic.twitter.com/j8hzf68xDG
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 15, 2025
Dover is as challenging as any track in NASCAR with a grueling 400 miles on tap for Sunday's race, the longest of any track that measures one mile or less in length. While van Gisbergen enters the weekend with more momentum than anyone, these three drivers are eager to get to the Monster Mile and put a rough outing in Wine Country behind them.
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 (Team Penske Ford)
Sonoma was the continuation of a trying season for the 2023 champion. He has consistently been toward the front on most weekends, but only has one win (Nashville) to show for it. He was running in the top-five at Sonoma when Chris Buescher got into him and sent him off into the dirt going up the hill into Turn 2. Unable to recover, Blaney finished 36th, two weeks removed from a last-place finish after getting caught up in a multi-car crash at EchoPark Speedway.
Until the last two races at the Monster Mile, this would not be looked at as a potential bounce-back opportunity for Blaney. Through the 2022 race, Blaney had a best finish of eighth (twice) at Dover with three finishes of 30th or worse. But in the last two, he has a pair of top-10s, including a career-best third-place effort in 2023. There is a good chance Blaney can put the Sonoma disappointment behind him in Delaware, assuming he can avoid any trouble.
Kyle Larson, No. 5 (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
Larson entered Sonoma as the defending winner, but was not able to replicate that performance with a 35th-place finish. He received damage in a multi-car crash with 11 laps to go and spun in Turn 4 after the race's final restart. Since the three-race 2025 winner ran the Memorial Day Weekend Double in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600, his results have been uncharacteristic with four finishes outside the top 10, including three straight.
Larson's three laps led at Sonoma were surprisingly his first since the Coca-Cola 600, when he led 34 before spinning from the lead in Stage 1. Dover is arguably his best track on the schedule, so this weekend could be a return to form for the 2021 champion. In 16 starts at the Monster Mile, Larson has one win (2019) and two runner-ups in his last four starts. As the next-best to Denny Hamlin one year ago, Larson could be primed for a return to Victory Lane on Sunday.
Ross Chastain, No. 1 (Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet)
Chastain did not have the finish he was looking for at Sonoma at 24th, which was even more frustrating considering he won Stage 1 after his team elected to keep him on track instead of short-pitting to retain the track position for the following stage. He qualified fourth as well, but was never able to regain the track position after Stage 1. A run-in with teammate Daniel Suarez going into Turn 11 made matters worse and compounded a disappointing day in Wine Country.
Since Chastain joined Trackhouse Racing in 2022, he has been one of the most consistent drivers at Dover. In three starts, he has two top-three finishes and has led more than 80 laps in two of those three races. With three finishes outside the top 20 in the last four races coming into Dover, Chastain could certainly use a rebound and he just might get it on Sunday.