With the 2022 Daytona 500 now in the record books and rookie Austin Cindric’s name now on the Harley J. Earl Trophy as its winner, the page now turns from the Great American Race to the rest of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. After leaving Daytona, NASCAR now heads to the other side of the country for a three-race west coast swing, starting at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California with the running of the Wise Power 400.
Since its opening in 1997, Auto Club Speedway has served as the largest and most prominent major speedway in the greater Los Angeles area, giving NASCAR the sort of Hollywood setting and Southern California presence it craved in its boom years. But in the quarter-century that has passed since, it has been the on-track product itself that has made Fontana a destination race. with its worn-out asphalt and wide, abrasive racing surface, Fontana allows drivers to run virtually any racing line they so choose, creating four and even five-wide racing around the two-mile D-Shaped oval.
How to watch the NASCAR Cup Series at Fontana
Date: Sunday Feb. 27
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
TV: Fox
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)
What to Watch
- This weekend’s race will mark the first time in nearly two full years that NASCAR has raced at Fontana. The track’s 2020 race weekend took place just before the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic in the U.S., and its 2021 race weekend ended up being cancelled due to COVID restrictions in the state of California. Given that, it’s been a long time since anyone or anything has raced at Auto Club Speedway, creating a sense of novelty and unfamiliarity with what was once a known commodity.
With the advanced age of the track’s surface and its long dormant period considered, NASCAR is taking the step to use a resin traction compound in advance of this weekend’s race while also using a “tire dragon” (A sled with four rows of tires pulled by a tractor) to help the track take rubber and develop a racing groove. The track’s backstretch, which is filled with bumps, is also being ground down.
The application of resin and its effect on the racing product is arguably the greatest unknown entering this weekend. While there has been some speculation that the application of resin could create a preferred groove that drivers will have to stay in to find grip and make time, there has also been some faith that drivers will remain able to take advantage of the track’s wide groove and many racing lines.
“I think the way the racetrack is laid out, it favors itself to widening out,” Alex Bowman, the last driver to win at Fontana, said Thursday. “I think the way that resin was put down and laid out is interesting. I don’t necessarily know that it’s gonna be great right away, but I think as it wears out it’ll make you move around. … It’ll still be wide like normal. You’ll still use the seams, you’ll still be slipping and sliding all over the place. It just might take a little bit of time to get there.”
- Auto Club Speedway will also mark the debut of a brand new combined practice and qualifying format for NASCAR. Instead of separate practice and qualifying sessions, NASCAR will split the field into two groups based on odd/even finishing order from the previous race for one 15-minute warmup/practice session per group. The warmup session will then lead directly into single-car, single-lap qualifying, where the five fastest drivers from each group will move on to the second round of qualifying and run for the pole.
While it’s an improvement from many races in 2020 and 2021, which did not feature practice or qualifying at all, the new practice and qualifying format will leave drivers and teams with much less time to get a sense of their car’s handling or make adjustments accordingly — likely to the advantage of the teams that are able to unload and be fast right away.
- With the level playing field of superspeedway racing now out of the way, Fontana will present the first look at which teams have been able to get a handle on the Next Gen car and make it perform on a track that emphasizes handling and aerodynamic performance. As much as Fontana could provide a glimpse into which teams are on top of the Next Gen car and which teams have a ways to go, there is a great deal of difference the drivers can make as well.
Traditionally, Fontana’s surface has rewarded driver skill and the ability to make fast laps without using up one’s tires or equipment. In each of the last four Cup races at Fontana, the winner has led over half of the race’s 200 laps, with Alex Bowman being the most recent to do so in 2020. Other past Fontana winners in the field this weekend include Kurt Busch (2002), Kyle Busch (four times), Kevin Harvick (2011), Brad Keselowski (2015), Kyle Larson (2017), and Martin Truex Jr. (2018)
Pick to Win
(Odds via Caesars Sportsbook)
Kyle Larson (+250): From the time he earned his first career Xfinity win at the track and then followed it up with a second-place finish in the Cup race the next day in 2014, Fontana has been one of Kyle Larson’s very best racetracks. And with his history at Fontana while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing considered — which includes a 2017 win where he led 110 laps and won from the pole — there’s little reason to think the defending Cup champion won’t build on his success at this racetrack now driving for Hendrick Motorsports.
Given that, it’s unsurprising that Larson is the odds-on favorite to win this weekend: Larson is currently the betting favorite with +250 odds to score the victory.
