The proposed rebuilding and significant shortening of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA — from a two-mile, high-speed oval to roughly a half-mile or three-quarter mile short track — is on hold. What’s more, the reconstruction has been on hold for nearly two years, with no progress whatsoever.
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Following ACS’s final race in 2023, even though NASCAR was optimistic that the short track would be ready to go by 2025 or 2026, construction has been long-halted. And now it’s anyone’s guess whether ACS will ever be rebuilt, particularly since nearly 83 percent of its 522-acre footprint has been sold off for development, leaving just 90 acres for a rebuilt short track plus parking.
Kyle Busch considered ACS as one of his favorite tracks on the NASCAR calendar — and with good reason too: In 24 Cup starts there, he earned five wins plus 12 top-5 and 17 top-10 finishes. Busch had an even better record in Xfinity Series races at ACS: in 19 races, he earned six wins, 13 top-5 and 16 top-10 finishes. In fact, he won the last Cup race ever held there, back in February 2023.
Initial teardown of the once popular track began the next day, and today, only the front stretch and part of the grandstands remain. But alas, ACS is no more — at least for now, and possibly forever. And this saddens Busch.
“Fontana was always one of my favorite places,” Busch said last month during an interview session at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I love that track.
“Even though it started off really rough for me, of getting kicked out of there when I was 16 years old, it certainly ended very well winning the final race there a couple years ago. So that place has a special meaning in my heart and, you know, all of Southern California does.
“I remember Irwindale (which closed late last year). I remember Orange Show. I remember Blythe. I think Blythe is still there. You’ve got Madera. You’ve got Altamont. I don’t know if Altamont is still going or not — that’s more Northern California.
“There’s some really good racetracks that have been through California that I’ve been around and at least have been to or Kurt (older brother and former NASCAR Cup champion Kurt Busch) has been to.
“I don’t know how to make it (Fontana) go. There’s so many people around that area that, you know, for a local short track with 5,000 seats to not fill those seats, it’s just not the interest of the fan in those areas. So that’s why they die.
“I mean, if you’re full every week and you’ve got standing room only like Eldora in Ohio, there’s no problem that you’re going to keep your doors open, you know?
“But I understand the Fontana piece — the land value is worth much more than what you were ever going to make in ticket sales. So eventually there becomes an economic decision and it overpowers us being racers that want to go race at those tracks. It overpowers that.”
The other Kyle also wishes Fontana would return
NASCAR Cup’s other Kyle — Kyle Larson — is also a big proponent of NASCAR racing in Southern California. Of course it helps that Larson is a native of Elk Grove in the northern part of the state.
Larson had high hopes when NASCAR originally said it would replace ACS with a half-mile short track. But since those plans have stalled, and may never reach fruition, it also leaves Larson bewildered, given how many auto racing fans there are in the Golden State.
“They say Fontana is still going to convert,” Larson said with a sense of optimism earlier this year at Daytona International Speedway.
But almost in the same breath, Larson somberly added something that it would seem a number of race fans also are thinking about ACS coming back as a short track: “I don’t believe that.”
