Drivers discuss challenges that lie ahead at Fontana – Nascar

FONTANA, Calif. — A well-worn racing surface, multiple racing grooves and generous tire falloff await NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams here at Auto Club Speedway for Sunday’s Auto Club 400.

Will it be the perfect combination or the perfect storm?

NASCAR’s 2016 aero package, which features less downforce, has gotten high marks thus far this year, as has Goodyear’s development of tires to go with the package.

Long green-flag runs have been the rule rather than the exception, and tire management has become crucial. But late caution flags have kept teams guessing.

“I think you’re going to see that short-run, long-run balance,” Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski said Friday after qualifying 15th. “The guys that are good on the short run here will have a huge advantage if there’s a yellow at the end.”

The difference between the two is immense, the 2012 series champ noted.

“It was two years ago where the 24 car (then driven by Jeff Gordon) was heads and tails the best car on the long run, but didn’t have any short-run speed,” Keselowski said. When a late caution created a green-white-checkered finish, Gordon went from contending for the win to finishing outside the top 10.

“That shows how you can get eaten up really quick if you don’t have that short-run speed at the end,” Keselowski said. “I think a lot of what is going to dictate who is going to win the race is going to be exactly how the yellows fall.”

At ACS, last-lap passes have become almost routine. Keselowski won here a year ago with a pass on the final lap; Kyle Busch managed the feat in both 2014 and ’13. In 2011, it was Kevin Harvick that shot into the lead with one lap remaining for the win.

The 2-mile layout at ACS promotes high speeds, but it’s more than just holding the gas pedal to the floor and hanging on, Harvick said.

“Oh, you are going to have to lift a lot,” Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing) said. “You are probably going to have three seconds of fall-off, maybe more, as you go through the run because the tires just fall off so fast. 

“You are going to have a lot of straightaway speed because of the low drag, so yeah, there is definitely going to be a lot of off-throttle time. I think the amount of time is going to change dramatically from the first lap to Lap 30. It’s going to be a huge pace swing.”

The Goodyear tires for Sunday’s race mirror those used at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this year. Right-side multi-zone tires feature a harder compound on the inner two inches while the outer 10 inches is softer.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Carl Edwards, fresh off a last-lap battle with Harvick a week ago at Phoenix, said, “You could write a book about this place.”

“There’s so much happening out there,” Edwards said. “Where you place your tires, how you enter the corner, what the guy in front of you is doing. All those things add up to a lot different balance.

“Turns 1 and 2, as many times as I’ve been here I still don’t feel like I have it figured out. There are spots that I like to run, things I like to do, but there are some spots out there and it’s like, ‘Man, I can’t quite figure out what’s happening.’

“It’s a little bit unpredictable, it’s definitely tough and to me that’s part of the fun.”

Nine former winners are in the field; pole winner Austin Dillon is not among them. The Richard Childress Racing driver scored his second-career pole on Friday and is still looking for his first Sprint Cup victory.

“I’m very confident in my guys that they will give me something to work with,” Dillon, 25, said. “They already have and the speed is there.

“Just focus on running that wall because that is where the race is going to be, I think, in the long run. Everybody is going to be running right by the wall.”