The NASCAR Cup Series teams take to the track for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Image Credit: IMAGO / Depositphotos
The NASCAR Cup Series teams take to the track for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Image Credit: IMAGO / Depositphotos
In NASCAR, discussions about schedules and which tracks could be excluded and included on the schedule always generate different opinions. While NASCAR visits certain tracks twice a year, other tracks have produced great racing that haven't seen the series visit in a while.
FOX analyst and former Cup driver Kevin Harvick has a definite take on including a track that hasn’t been on the calendar since 2023. While replying to a mailbag question sent by a fan to his "Happy Hour podcast," Harvick said:
"I’m gonna bring California Speedway. It’s old asphalt; bring it back so we don’t keep having these debates about being in California. It’s just there."
LOUDON, NH - JULY 15: Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart Haas Racing Busch Light Ford speaks with the media during a press conference, PK, Pressekonferenz during pre-race activities for the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Crayon 301 on July 15, 2023, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hamsphire. Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire AUTO: JUL 15 NASCAR Cup Series Crayon 301 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon23071504301
LOUDON, NH - JULY 15: Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart Haas Racing Busch Light Ford speaks with the media during a press conference, PK, Pressekonferenz during pre-race activities for the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Crayon 301 on July 15, 2023, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hamsphire. Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire AUTO: JUL 15 NASCAR Cup Series Crayon 301 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon23071504301
The last time NASCAR visited the track, it was Kyle Busch who took the win for Richard Childress Racing in a 2023 season where he got his last three Cup wins.
"I think that racetrack had just got to the point where it was so racy, had one race a year, had great crowds, then poof, gone," Harvick added.
But NASCAR cannot simply add another race to an already busy 36-race calendar. Which track would need to make way for Auto Club Speedway to come back? For Harvick, Kansas was the first answer.
"I'd start with the list of race tracks that we go to twice. I think Kansas would be the first one that I would put on the list because of the fact that the crowds are both mediocre.”
While Harvick did also say that there are a lot of factors based on which the schedule gets decided, looking at the added benefits of racing at different tracks, he did shed some much-needed light on Auto Club Speedway, which currently lies abandoned.
What’s the current status of Auto Club Speedway?
High banking, and so much rubber rubbed into the track, there are three proper grooves on the asphalt at Auto Club Speedway. In the last Cup series race, the track even flexed that there was more room for racing by having the start procedure conducted with a five-wide formation.
About a month back, NOAPS driver Sam Mayer posted pictures of the track on X, and they look dismal to say the very least.
Two-thirds of the land had been sold off to accommodate the construction of warehouses and industrial spaces under a project called Speedway Commerce Centre.
When the redevelopment of the site was initially announced, there was an unofficial plan in place for a 0.75-mile-long short course with high banking. But currently, the track lies untouched and barricaded while phase 1 of the industrial development is complete.
NASCAR began racing there in 1997, and the track in Fontana, California, provided great entertainment and ambiance. Even IndyCar races were hosted at the track, but both the open-wheel single-seat and stock car series will have to wait a while before action returns to Auto Club Speedway.
Do you want to see Auto Club return to the schedule? Share your feelings in the comments.
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Written by
Debrup Chaudhuri
Edited by
Yash Kotak