NASCAR returns to Fontana, CA for the first time since 2020 for this weekend's Wise Power 400. With Daytona in the rearview and the season ready to keep revving up, auto racing bettors have a bit of an unknown on their hands Sunday.
Get the NASCAR betting low-down with Covers Experts' Auto Racing Advisor preview and picks for the 2022 Wise Power 400, which gets underway at 3:30 p.m. ET, February 27.
You can also check out the full Wise Power 400 odds breakdown.
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Wise Power 400 favorites
Kyle Larson (+400)
Larson has three Top-2 finishes in six career Fontana tries, including a win in 2017 and a runner-up in 2018. At one point, Fontana and its sister track in Michigan were Larson’s best circuits on the schedule. He’s not raced at Fontana with Hendrick power before.
Kyle Busch (+800)
Busch has six Top-3 finishes in his last eight Cup Series starts in Fontana. In Xfinity Series competition at Fontana, Busch has nine straight Top-8 finishes and 13 Top-3 finishes in his last 14 tries. He’s a six-time winner (2008, 2009, 2010, 2010, 2011, 2013) at that.
Wise Power 400 long-shot picks
Ryan Blaney (+1,200)
His stats keep getting better and better in Fontana. He was ninth in 2017, eighth in 2018, fifth in 2019 and the only reason he was 12th in 2020 was due to a late-race cut tire while running inside the Top 3. He led the second-most laps (54) that day and was a top car all weekend.
Joey Logano (+1,400)
Logano has four Top-5 finishes in his last five starts at Fontana and five Top 7s in his last six there overall.
Wise Power 400 matchup pick
Austin Cindric (+166) vs. 12 – Ryan Blaney (-215)
These two Penske teammates were the story of last Sunday’s Daytona 500, as they dueled fiercely for the win on the final lap after working together in the draft all race long – with rookie Cindric ultimately coming out on top.
Blaney had a standout performance the last time the series visited Auto Club Speedway in 2020 – posting the second-highest driver rating of the day (112.8) and leading 54/200 laps. He was ninth in 2017, eighth in 2018, fifth in 2019, and was only 12th in 2020 due to a late-race cut tire while running inside the Top 3. Cindric is a rookie in Cup and we can’t assume he’ll continue his Daytona pace.
PICK: Blaney (-215)
Wise Power 400 preview
We’re back to a world of unknowns in NASCAR, but luckily, it’s not truly COVID-related. Nothing changes schedule-wise. We know we’ll be racing in Fontana this week. We know that Sunday’s race is unchanged. What we don’t know is how will it look.
NASCAR didn’t go to Fontana last year, and a lot has changed since the spring of 2020. We have a new car. We have new drivers. New teams. Fontana has even went through some changes: The backstretch bumps were grinded down and patched, and there’ll be resin on the track in the corners for more grip.
Factor in that, plus a new car, plus only 15 minutes of practice available before qualifying on Saturday and you get a wild-card type race on Sunday.
Wise Power 400 key stat
The last six races in Fontana have been won by five different drivers from five different teams: Brad Keselowski (2015), Jimmie Johnson (2016), Kyle Larson (2017), Martin Truex Jr. (2018), Kyle Busch (2019) and Alex Bowman (2020).
