Fontana Steps Into Spotlight

NASCAR’s drive to make Southern California as important to Nextel Cup stock car racing as its traditional Carolina roots will pick up steam this weekend at the first of two major races this year at California Speedway in Fontana.

The Auto Club 500 on Sunday will be Round 10 of the first 26-race segment of the revolutionary Nextel Cup schedule, then NASCAR will return here for a historic Sunday night race on Labor Day weekend. Capacity crowds of more than 100,000 are expected for both events.

It will be the first time that California Speedway has been granted two NASCAR dates in the same year since it opened on the grounds of the former Kaiser Steel Mill eight years ago.

“We want a strong presence in the Los Angeles area,” said Brian France, NASCAR president. “We have an office there and we think it is fitting to have two races there.”

The races will be something like 500-mile heats, serving to qualify the 10 points leaders -- and anyone else within 400 points of the leader -- after race No. 26 for a 10-race shootout for the Nextel Cup championship. Thus, the team-driver combinations from about eighth through 15th positions figure to be working as hard as the drivers battling for No. 1.

Just getting in that final 10 can be more important than winning a race, which means that watching Elliott Sadler, Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, rookie Kasey Kahne, Rusty Wallace, Sterling Marlin and Mark Martin, standing 8 through 15 at the moment, may be more exciting than watching points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr., challengers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and last year’s winner, Kurt Busch.

Gordon, winner of last week’s controversial race at Talladega Superspeedway, which finished under a yellow caution flag, is the only two-time winner at California Speedway, and he also was the winning car owner when Johnson won two years ago.

“It’s exciting to win as a car owner, but it doesn’t compare with winning as a driver,” said Gordon, who is aiming for a fifth Cup championship this year. He is third in the standings, 111 points behind Earnhardt. Johnson is second, 94 back.

If Gordon wins Sunday, it will be the 11th season he has scored multiple victories, and it will also be the 19th time he has won consecutive races.

“We’re not worried about streaks or records,” he said. “We just want to go into this weekend with momentum still on our side.”

Qualifying is scheduled today for both the Busch 300, which will be run Saturday, and the Nextel Cup race on Sunday. Besides the Busch race Saturday, a Grand National West race of 200 miles will be run.

Drivers and fans can get a sneak preview of what the Speedway will be like with its multimillion-dollar lighting system for the “Finish Under the Lights” Pop Secret 500 in September when track President Bill Miller pulls the switch tonight at 7.

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The Facts

* Site: California Speedway in Fontana.

* Schedule: Sunday, race (Channel 11, noon)

* Track: D-shaped oval, 2 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 500 miles, 250 laps.

* Last race: Jeff Gordon took the lead with six laps remaining and was barely ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. when the last caution flag came out, giving him the win at the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. A rule change from last year freezes the field when the yellow comes out rather than letting drivers race to the flagstand. Fans littered the track with trash after NASCAR ruled Gordon was ahead.

* Last year: Kurt Busch became the first two-time winner of the 2003 season, passing Jamie McMurray 12 laps from the end of the Auto Club 500.

* Fast facts: There have been seven different winners in nine races this season, including the last five. Only Earnhardt and Matt Kenseth have multiple victories.... Earnhardt has a series-leading six top-five finishes this season and has been among the top 10 in the standings for 41 straight weeks, dating to last season.... California native Kevin Harvick has not finished better than 25th in any of his three starts at Fontana.... Gordon has four top-five finishes in the six races at Fontana, including wins in the inaugural 1997 event and 1999.

* Next race: Pontiac Performance 400, May 15, Richmond, Va.

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Event Schedule

* Today -- Busch Series qualifying, 1 p.m., Speed Channel; Nextel Cup qualifying, 3 p.m., Speed Channel.

* Saturday -- Busch Series Stater Bros. 300, 1 p.m., Channel 11

* Sunday -- Nextel Cup Auto Club 500, noon, Channel 11