By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor

Ahead of each NASCAR race weekend, Kickin’ the Tires previews the upcoming races, looking at the storylines entering the events while highlighting when and where to watch them. 

Weekend Schedule

Friday, March 16

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice: 2:35-3:25 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)

NASCAR XFINITY Series practice: 3:35-4:25 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)

NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice: 5:35-6:25 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying: 7:15 p.m (FOX Sports 1) 

Saturday, March 17

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice: 12:35-1:25 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)

NASCAR XFINITY Series qualifying: 1:35 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice: 3:30-4:20 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)

NASCAR XFINITY Series California 300: 5:00 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)

Sunday, March. 18

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400: 3:30 p.m. (FOX)

(All times ET)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Race Name: Auto Club 400

Track: Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, California)

Race Length: 200 laps, 400 miles

Race Stages (Laps): 60, 60, 80

Track Length: 2.0 miles

Track Record: 188.57 mph (Kevin Harvick, 2016)

What Happened Last Year: Kyle Larson picked up where he left off in 2016, earning his second-straight win on a two-mile track and continuing a streak that would hold through the year’s two races at Michigan International Speedway.

What to Watch For

Happy vs. the World

It’s Kevin Harvick’s world. The rest of the field just lives in it.

Wait, didn’t we write that last week?…

Las Vegas Motor Speedway penalty aside, Harvick has been on top of the sport for the last three races. He’s dominated two of the three events, and just when people thought his advantage might be diminished after his No. 4 Ford failed post-race teardown at the NASCAR Research and Development center, the veteran returned to victory lane at ISM Raceway.

The 2014 Cup Series champion has tallied 11 confirmed playoff points, even after losing the bonus points for stage and race wins in Las Vegas. Were those points not taken away he would already have more bonus points than the 16 he earned with wins last season.

With 53 stage points Harvick’s already nearly a quarter of the way to the 223 he tallied during the 2017 regular season. The Californian already has half of the six stage wins he managed last year, and he leads the point standings outright for the first time since his last February after Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Harvick has been the dominant driver through the first four races of the season, and he’s heading to a track where he could be primed to continue his success.

The 18-year Cup veteran began his career with four finishes of 25th or worse in his first five starts at Auto Club, but in recent years he’s been able to find success on the two-mile oval. He’s finished in the top two four times in the past nine races at the track, with one win back in 2011.

The Stewart-Haas Racing ace struggled last year en-route to a 13th-place result, but this season he appears poised to contend for the win. However, he’ll face a steep challenge from one driver this weekend…

Two-Mile Kyle

There aren’t many races on two-mile ovals – only Fontana and Michigan provide the option for NASCAR to compete on tracks of the length, filling a combined three of the 36 points races on the calendar.

The trips are an occasional challenge for some, and a rare reprieve for others.

For Kyle Larson in recent years they’ve been a near-assured victory.

Larson has made his name on the tour’s two-mile ovals in the past two years, winning four-straight races in increasingly shocking fashion.

The Chip Ganassi Racing ace started the streak with his first-career win at Michigan in 2016, besting Chase Elliott in a battle of young prospects and that guaranteed his playoff berth. The Californian followed it up with his first Fontana win in 2017, then used late surges to surprise the field and claim two additional wins at Michigan over the summer months.

The run kickstarted Larson’s strong championship bid last season, giving him a host of playoff points and keeping him near the top of the standings throughout the year before an untimely blown motor at Kansas Speedway eliminated him from playoff contention.

It also briefly earned ‘Yung Money’ a second nickname among some NASCAR circles – Two-Mile Kyle.

The fifth-year shoe has succeeded at all track types on the Cup circuit, but two-mile ovals have been his specialty. He’s won a combined four races out of a possible 12 at the two facilities, compared to just one victory – Richmond Raceway last fall – at the other tracks on the tour.

With that level of recent success, it’s fair to pencil Larson in as a favorite this weekend.

Ford vs. Toyota

Four races into the season, the early leaders of the series have begun to make their presence known.

Ford and Toyota have led the way for the Cup Series field, dominating the tour in the three weeks after the Daytona 500.

The Blue Ovals have earned three-consecutive wins with Harvick, and own seven of the top 11 spots in the standings between Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) and Team Penske. SHR has been the top team on the tour, coming within one late crash of sweeping the opening month of racing while earning a combined nine top 10s.

Toyota has yet to make their way to victory lane due to Harvick’s dominance, but they’ve inched closer each week. Kyle Busch had arguably the best car at ISM Raceway, but lost out to Harvick after his No. 18 team had issues during the final round of pit stops.

The top two drivers from last season – Busch and Martin Truex Jr. – have combined to score five top-five finishes and sit second and third in the standings. Denny Hamlin follows in sixth with three top fives of his own, and young prospect Erik Jones is holding on to a playoff position in 15th despite some early struggles.

Chevrolet has shown occasional glimpses of speed, with Larson and Chase Elliott each coming close to victories in recent weeks – though the latter’s effort was undone by an L1 penalty. But outside of Austin Dillon’s surprise win in Daytona, the Bowties have limped through the opening weeks of the season.

Hendrick Motorsports has been a non-factor outside of Elliott. Richard Childress Racing has shown promise, with Dillon penciled into the playoff grid and Ryan Newman currently holding a spot on points, but they seem to be down on speed early on. Richard Petty Motorsports’ early hype has fizzled out, and the other teams in Chevy’s arsenal have failed to make much noise.

There’s a good chance for Larson and Elliott to contend in Fontana given their history of success on two-mile ovals. But if they should falter, the early trend shows that it’ll likely be Toyotas and Fords fighting for a trip to victory lane.

         Auto Club 400 Entry List

NASCAR XFINITY Series

Race Name: California 300

Track: Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, California)

Race Length: 150 laps, 300 miles

Race Stages (Laps): 35, 35, 80

Track Length: 2.0 miles

Track Record: 185.941 mph (Tony Stewart, 2005)

What Happened Last Year: Kyle Larson outlasted Kyle Busch and Joey Logano in a fierce battle to claim the victory in Fontana, kickstarting his first NASCAR weekend sweep.

What to Watch For

Cup Series Domination

And so it continues.

Auto Club actually offers a strong chance for Xfinity Series regulars to contend. Only two full-time Cup drivers will compete in Saturday’s race – 2016 winner Austin Dillon and Joey Logano.

But despite the lack of Cup stars in the race, recent history shows that topping the premier series stars should prove challenging.

Only twice since the turn of the century has an Xfinity regular won in Fontana, and the most recent example dates all the way back to 2002, when Scott Riggs topped the field for his second win in three races. The only other series regular to win at the oval was Hank Parker Jr., who earned his first of two-career wins at the track in 2001.

The years since those two wins have seen a host of Cup drivers pulling into victory lane.

Kyle Busch leads the way with six wins during the stretch. Greg Biffle claimed three victories in the mid-2000s, and the group of Matt Kenseth, Logano and Kyle Larson have added two wins apiece. One-time winners during the stretch include Mark Martin, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Dillon.

The odds are promising for the Xfinity tour to earn its first Fontana winner in 16 years on Saturday, but they’ll still have to beat two former winners to get the job done. That won’t be an easy task.

Ryan Preece’s Return

Ryan Preece provided one of the best feel-good moments of the 2017 NASCAR season, beating a host of competitors to earn an emotional first-career win for Joe Gibbs Racing at Iowa Speedway.

One year later the Whelen Modified Tour vet is back, and hoping to prove that first triumph was only the beginning.

Preece will make his return to the tour this weekend at Auto Club, piloting the No. 18 Toyota in the first run of what’s expected to be an 11-race stint this season.

The Connecticut native was last seen in the 2017 season finale, where he was lambasted by tour veteran Elliott Sadler after his refusal to give Sadler a position late in the race, hurting the Virginian’s chances to reel in eventual Championship 4 winner William Byron en-route to a second-place finish in the standings.

Sadler has continued to express his displeasure with Preece going into this season, meaning the 27-year-old might want to steer clear of the JR Motorsports star this weekend.

Preece enters with high expectations. He finished second or better twice in four starts last year, and he’s piloting the ride driven to victory in Fontana by Kyle Busch six times in the last 10 years.

The pressure will be high, but Preece has proven up to the task in every start thus far. Assuming he can keep that level of success up, the prospect promises to be one to watch this weekend.

                           California 300 Entry List