NASCAR: Chaotic Fontana race ends 90-race streak

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway was the first race since July 2019 that did not feature any non-chartered entries.

The exciting start to the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season and the Next Gen era continued on Sunday afternoon at Auto Club Speedway with the WISE Power 400.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson came from the back of the field and held off Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, among a host of other hungry drivers who aren’t usually at the front, for the victory.

This 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) oval in Fontana, California featured 32 lead changes, the most at the track since the March 2014 race featured 35.

And it was the first race since July 2019 that did not feature a single non-chartered entry.

The last time a Cup Series race featured only the 36 chartered entries was in July 2019 at Kentucky Speedway. Prior to Sunday’s race, 90 consecutive races had been contested with at least 37 cars, including at least one non-chartered entry in each race.

Six non-chartered entries attempted to qualify for the final four spots in last Sunday’s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, but none of them made the trip to Auto Club Speedway.

The races in which these entries are slated to compete throughout the rest of the year are limited, which was expected given some of the ongoing supply shortages and their effects on teams.

While disappointing not to see some of the lesser-known teams competing on Sundays, we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2022 season with this new Gen 7 car. Auto Club Speedway is a track that hasn’t always produced the most exciting races in the past, yet Sunday’s race had fans on the edge of their seats throughout.

The track was wiped off the calendar in 2021 as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions after hosting the penultimate race before the unexpected 10-week hiatus in March 2020, and the fans came out in full force to watch what initially believed to be the final race on the 2.0-mile layout. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like it will be.

Will there be any non-chartered cars on the entry list for this Sunday afternoon’s race, the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway? This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET, so be sure to start your free trial of FuboTV today!