Hosting its first race in 1997, California is one of the new breed of racetracks: big and beautiful, with state of the art accommodations for both the fans and the drivers. This 2-mile D-shaped oval looks a lot like the track in Michigan: it’s wide, fast, and 2 miles long. But California is flatter, banked at 14 degrees in the corners and 11 in the long, curving front-stretch.

California is smooth and speeds can get pretty high here, approaching 200 miles per hour. It takes 250 laps to run a 500 mile race, and with such a roomy racetrack, long green flag runs are common. This race can turn into a fuel mileage affair. Expect some teams to risk blown tires by changing 2 or no tires to gain track position. High speeds and high rpms can also be hard on the engines.

California is a track where you need the whole package to do well: horsepower down the straights, downforce in the corners, and a good chassis setup with adjustments built in to keep up with a track that changes a lot during the race. Even though it was a one groove track when it first opened, drivers seem to have more options as the race, and the racing gets better there every year.

California is a newer version of Michigan—a two-mile D-shaped oval that’s wide and fast. The racing groove, however, just isn’t as wide, although it seems to be getting a little better every year. Here’s hoping it gets as good as MIS someday.