Photo for Headline Surfer / NASCAR races were last held at Auto Club Speedway near Fontana, Calif. in 2020, but resume this weekend.
By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After taking last season off from visiting Auto Club Speedway due to pandemic restrictions, the NASCAR Cup Series is looking forward to returning to the 2-mile track located just outside of Los Angeles in Fontana, California for the WISE Power 400 on Sunday.
The race gets underway at 3:30 pm ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Groundbreaking for California Speedway, as Auto Club Speedway was originally known, took place in November of 1995. The track name was changed to Auto Club Speedway (ACS) in February of 2008. The first race at Auto Club Speedway was an ARCA Menards Series West race won by Ken Schrader on June 21, 1997.
The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway was held on June 22, 1997, and won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon driving the Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 Chevrolet.
The September 2004 event was the first night race at Auto Club Speedway and that also was the first year both the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series ran two races in a season there.
There have been 31 NASCAR Cup Series races at Auto Club Speedway, the track hosted one race a season from 1997-to 2003, then two races per season from 2004-to 2010. In 2011, Auto Club Speedway returned to a single-race season.
Last season (2021) due to the COVID-19 Pandemic restrictions, Auto Club Speedway was removed from the NASCAR Cup Series schedule but has returned this season to be the second race on the 2022 schedule.
About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008, that serves greater Daytona Beach, Sanford & Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed close to 150 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high profile cases, Frederick has appeared on national crime documentary shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis. • Award-Winning Journalism: Florida Press Club recognizes Headline Surfer for nine stories in 2020 statewide competition. • Award-Winning Journalism of Henry Frederick.