NASCAR: Multi-groove action set for Fontana

ABOVE: Kurt Busch tests Fontana's multiple grooves
during practice. (Getty Images for NASCAR)

In a season already defined by better racing and two of the closest finishes in NASCAR history, there is also reason to believe that the Auto Club 400 on Sunday could be the best race yet.

This is a weekend Sprint Cup drivers have salivated over ever since the sanctioning body opted to utilize a lower-downforce competition package for the 2016 season. Even under previous regulations, Fontana had been one of the best stops on the tour, thanks to an aged surface and numerous ways to pass.

Now consider the reduction of downforce and slightly unbalanced cars on a fast two-mile circuit and the entire garage is expecting yet another race of the year contender.

"I think all of the drivers (and) I'm pretty sure I can speak for all of them, we've been looking forward to this racetrack," Carl Edwards said. "The tires fall off a bunch here with multiple grooves. The new package should provide some good racing."

Much like Atlanta in February, the Auto Club Speedway track surface is eroding – and that's a good thing for fans. It's bumpy and the cracks in the surface have been filled with tar strips.

Crossing those seams the at the wrong time could prove disastrous and that's the recipe for a good time, according to Kevin Harvick.

"I think this is the race we've all been looking forward to the most, just because of the fact that you have some high speeds and lots of racing lanes and the cars are going to slide all over the place," Harvick said. "So, it's definitely a weekend that we're all looking forward to."

With the exception of the fans who didn't like the number of long green-flag runs during the second race of the season, Atlanta set the standard for what this package could produce on a weekly basis. The argument could be made that Fontana is just a faster, wider Atlanta and that's why Ricky Stenhouse expects much of the same.

"I think it will be kind of like Atlanta because of the tire fall-off here," Stenhouse said. "There are multiple grooves, which means you can run all over this racetrack.

"With this package and this racetrack, I think it's gonna be a very, very exciting race and probably one of the better ones we've had."