The future of California Speedway in Fontana, California, has remained in limbo since the final Cup Series race at the 2-mile track in 2023. Now, NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps has explained why the reconfiguration was put on pause.
Speaking this week on the "Hauler Talk" podcast, Phelps pointed to the cost of turning Fontana into a short track that could host the national NASCAR series in an important market.
"Do I think creating a short track out there would be a cool thing for us? Yes," Phelps said. "With that being said, it's $300 million to build that facility. Is that the best use of that money? That is the big question.
"The cost of capital right now is still really high, so for us to just press pause right now is essentially what we're doing -- trying to be as transparent about that as possible."
Phelps reiterated during the conversation that this reconfigured version of Fontana would have to be a short track. He said that NASCAR did not have room for anything else.
NASCAR previously sold 433 of the 525 acres that it owned. This left only 92 acres of the property to reconfigure the track where Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Jeff Gordon, and Carl Edwards once won.
Demolition has occurred on the site of the now-defunct track. Only a few buildings remain on the site, along with one section of grandstands and the scoring pylon. The rest of the historic facility is no more.
Phelps's interview on "Hauler Talk" is not the first time a NASCAR executive has addressed the uncertain future of Fontana. Dave Allen, NASCAR's West Region president, previously spoke to the Los Angeles Times and said that they are in a holding pattern.
Allen said that the Southern California market is extremely important to NASCAR and that they won't abandon it. They just have to adjust to the needs of the market and other outside factors.
"There's some things within the sport that need to get sorted before we can make some strategic decisions as it relates to what we're going to build," Allen said. "We're going to do something. I just don't know what and when yet."