Alex Bowman returns to Auto Club a winner but with uncertainty

The last time Auto Club Speedway was on the NASCAR schedule, Alex Bowman was the one speeding through the checkered flag first in March 2020.

That was a long time ago — it will be 728 days between Fontana Cup races, to be specific.

“It feels like it’s been forever,” Bowman said in a Thursday Zoom conference.

The track is still old and worn; the track is still a 2-mile oval; and he’s still driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with crew chief Greg Ives atop the pit box. That’s about where the similarities end.

Now piloting the No. 48 car rather than the No. 88 he won with nearly two years ago, Bowman and the rest of the Cup Series finally return to Fontana, California, with hopes of ending the day in that same victory lane. The most obvious and significant challenge stems from the Next Gen car, which hasn’t seen the Southern California oval since William Byron tested a prototype there in 2020 and subsequently crashed.

“I think this is going to be a big test on how it drives and how we’ve guessed at the best setup and how we stack up to start the year,” Bowman said. “It drives so different than what we’ve had in the past. And obviously not having been there before and how slick it is and abrasive it is, we haven’t really been to a place like this with it yet.”

Indeed, Sunday’s race marks the first true race for the new vehicle on an intermediate-style track. The only real-world experience teams have comes from test sessions and mock races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval in November and December. Charlotte’s 1.5-mile track doesn’t compare exceptionally well to Fontana.

Still, anytime a driver can find success at a racetrack provides a reasonable notebook to look back on. Prior to Bowman’s 2020 triumph, his best Auto