Overview

With the Daytona 500 behind us, the Cup Series heads to Fontana, California.  Auto Club Speedway is a two-mile asphalt oval banked at 14 degrees in the turns, 11 degrees in the front stretch, and three degrees in the backstretch. This is a tough track to pass and we’ve seen in years past that dominator points can be quickly racked up by less than a handful of drivers and tire wear plays an important role here so good pit stops and strategy have more of an emphasis in that regard. With no qualifying and the starting lineup determined by a NASCAR metric, there are a lot of drivers to consider for different reasons here.

Strategy

As mentioned above, Auto Club is a tough place to pass, specifically to pass the leader when they’re in clean air. Along with finding a dominator, we’ll need to fill out our lineup with place differential options as well as drivers who are typically able to save their tires.

Most comparable tracks: Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Chicagoland

*Note: all pricing is DraftKings focused

Dominators

Alex Bowman ($8,300), Starting 4th

Bowman fits the profile for this track and the similar tracks on the schedule. The driver of the 48 car won this race in 2020, has a top five and three top 10’s at Darlington, and has won at Chicago. Bowman has fared well at high tire wear tracks and has a good pit crew, two recipes for success at this track and he’ll be less than 10 percent owned.

Joey Logano ($9,700), Starting 3rd

One of the better drivers at high tire wear tracks is Logano who’ll start third on Sunday. Logano finished fifth at Fontana in 2022, had a win and fourth place finish at Darlington, and finished sixth at Richmond. The defending Cup champion has five top fives in his last six races here and is in a great position to lead a ton of laps on Sunday.

Also Consider

Christopher Bell ($9,500), Starting on the Pole

Kyle Larson ($10,800), Starting 15th, Consider as a PD play and a Dom with a good chance to win

Place Differential Targets

Chase Elliott ($10,500), Starting 33rd

Elliott will start way back at 33rd at a track in which he has an average finish of 12th. Elliott hasn’t won at any of the “high tire wear tracks” but he’s been in contention on multiple occasions and a driver of his quality starting this far back is just hard to ignore. Plain and simple.

Tyler Reddick ($9,100), Starting 35th

Reddick is one of the better drivers at these types of tracks where keeping the tires is essential. He was able to finish second and third at Darlington last season and led 90 laps here at Fontana last season. He should be one of the more popular drivers on the slate Sunday.

Kyle Busch ($10,300), Starting 21st

Busch has won at Fontana four times with 11 top five finishes in 23 races. Busch’s average finish at Fontana is 10th and he’ll have a good amount of spots to make up starting 21st on Sunday. Kyle has always done well at the high tire wear tracks and I expect no different Sunday.

Also consider:

William Byron ($8,900), Starting 32nd

Erik Jones ($7,700), Starting 34th

Austin Dillon ($8,100), Starting 28th

Ty Dillon ($5,300), Starting 36th

Speedy Notes

Driver(s) I have most exposure to: Joey Logano

Driver I’m fading that worries me: Christopher Bell

Driver(s) I have zero interest in: Denny Hamlin