FONTANA, Cali. — No matter what the track is, NASCAR Cup Series teams are always focused on performing well every weekend with the goal in mind of winning. As was the case when Alex Bowman and his No. 88 crew unloaded a rocketship and won at Auto Club Speedway for his second career victory.

But while teams were engaged and working diligently to accumulate a quality finish in Fontana, there was an inherent emphasis in the garage area on the race weekend ahead at Phoenix Raceway – for a multitude of reasons.

For starters, this is the first time in 18 years that the sport will not crown it’s champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Instead, NASCAR will vacate the sunny shores of Miami and find a new home among the cacti, blue skies and dry heat in Avondale, Arizona.

“Usually you only go to Homestead once, so you don’t have a chance to get a race under your belt in the Spring,” Ryan Blaney told POPULAR SPEED.

This is one reason teams have been buzzing about the upcoming FanShield 500. Normally, you get one shot at preparing a championship caliber car for the series finale.

“You need to really learn as much as possible, have a strong run there, learn from your mistake and make sure you’re clear about everything after the race,” Joey Logano said.

The next implication comes from the PJ1 traction compound. This was a sticky substance that NASCAR applied to the racing surface of multiple tracks in the later stages last season – Phoenix included – to add more grip to the track. Last Fall, drivers were a fan of the substance, but the only problem was that they were a fan of it when they could run in it.

Superstars such as Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick praised the compound, but felt it was more or less ineffective due to the placement of it at the 1.2-mile track. It was applied nicely in turns one and two, however it ran slightly too high in turns three in four for it to play a factor in the racing. Hopefully, the outcry of numerous drivers to NASCAR about the PJ1 application will lead to an improvement in on-track action compared to last year.

“There’s so many things that are unknown there as far as; what the track prep is going to be like? Is there tire drag? Is there PJ1? – that’s going to adjust the track quite a bit,” the 2018 Cup Series Champion revealed. “I think the track prep more than anything will affect how the race plays out.”

The largest potential performance shift should come from the new short track package that NASCAR is implementing for 2020. The new requirements include; a significantly smaller spoiler (8-inch to 2.75-inch), the front splitter overhang will decrease from two inches to a quarter-inch with two-inch wings, and the removal of vertical fencing on the radiator pan to reduce front-end downforce.

“I think it’s going to lend itself back to a couple of years ago,” Kyle Busch said.

Logano echoed the same sentiments, saying that he believes the racing will be similar to the Fall race of 2018. He also expects slightly calmer restarts and the overall racing to be significantly better.

Rookie of the Year candidate, Cole Custer, even chimed in stating he thinks he’ll be able to “adapt a little bit better,” because the setups will mimic the NASCAR Xfinity Series closely.

“I think the changes that they made – probably from the aero-side of it – is going to help the racing a lot from last year,” the driver of the No. 41 said.

This could be a good sign for the 22-year-old, as he’s gotten off to a rocky start and hasn’t finished better than 18th this year. But should these cars indeed drive like the Xfinity Series, Custer did manage to get seven wins last season and this could ease his transition a bit.

While many things are up in the air about an immense amount of factors heading to Phoenix Raceway this weekend, the main goal is to improve the racing from a competitive standpoint. The good thing for NASCAR looking beyond this race as should the racing not improve from last year, they’ll have nearly eight months to formulate another plan of attack before the series finale.

We’ll get our first look at the new short track package on Friday at 3:35 p.m. ET for Cup Series practice. Few things are certain, but this is going to be a vitally important weekend for every team involved and the garage area will be a hectic, frenetic place. You will not want to miss a single-second of on-track action from Phoenix Raceway.