NASCAR returns to Fontana with excitement and uncertainty

By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer

FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — The beautifully weathered asphalt at Auto Club Speedway is older than Austin Cindric. The Next Gen car that the Daytona 500 champion drove over that asphalt to the pole Saturday is so new that most of the NASCAR Cup Series drivers still haven’t figured out how to keep it out of spins or off of the wall. This California combination of the old and the new, the familiar and the unfamiliar, could make for a fascinating race Sunday at Auto Club Speedway when NASCAR’s West Coast swing gets underway. Everything looks unpredictable in NASCAR this year, as evidenced by the unlikely early-season dominance of the 23-year-old rookie who sped to his first career pole one week after his first victory.