Auto Club Speedway Infield Road Course
The Auto Club Speedway is a NASCAR-owned and operated motorsports facility paved in 1997 on what used to be a steel mill in Fontana, California, an hour drive east from downtown Los Angeles. It was born with the name California Speedway, changing it later in 2008 as part of a sponsorship deal with the Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC). There are several possible layouts in the racing complex, such as the NASCAR speedway oval, a sports car road course, a motorcycle course, and the inner test circuit. Fontana has excellent weather throughout the year, with pleasant temperatures, relatively low humidity, and scarce precipitations, making it an ideal place for high-performance racing.
The sports car road course is a 2.88-mile (4.63 km) layout that combines the NASCAR oval with an intricate infield section of the race track consisting of 19 turns and several straightaways. There are plenty of passing opportunities in the oval, where racers press the gas pedal hard the reach velocities as high as 150 mph (241 km/h). The other internal layout in the Auto Club Speedway is the infield road course, a 2-mile circuit that consists of straight segments and chicane-like turns.
The Infield Road Course at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California combines portions of the 2-mile D-shaped oval with infield sections to create a road racing layout at this facility primarily known for NASCAR oval competition. The Infield configuration serves road racing series, sports car events, and driving experiences requiring technical corner combinations unavailable on the pure oval. This variant demonstrates Auto Club's versatility beyond traditional stock car racing.
Operating the Infield Road Course showcases Auto Club Speedway's multi-discipline capability where the facility accommodates road racing alongside its primary NASCAR oval mission. Southern California's climate creates year-round racing potential though desert heat pushes track temperatures above 60C during summer requiring careful session timing. The Infield configuration provides technical road racing challenges utilizing the oval's banking transitions combined with purpose-built infield corners, serving Los Angeles metropolitan area's road racing community with accessible circuit infrastructure at the region's premier motorsport venue.
