Micah Roberts: It's a perfect NASCAR goodbye to classic Fontana layout

I was absolutely thrilled to see Kyle Busch win at Fontana on Sunday in just his second start for new car owner Richard Childress. And those feelings weren't just me, a Vegas guy. it was an entirely new vibe from the crowd that has booed him in his last three wins there.

I've seen this before.

They booed Dale Earnhardt in most of his years and none of us could have imagined the shift to in fans respecting him later more than anything. Kyle Busch turned the corner with the fans, racing on a team that housed Earnhardt's famed black No. 3 Chevrolet.

What Busch's win did Sunday was assure us he's going to have speed and compete in all the intermediate tracks like Las Vegas next week. There are more of these types than road or short tracks, so he should be in store for at least 3-win or more season. And Tyler Reddick won two of the road course races last season as well and Busch used the same car Reddick drove at Fontana last season to lead a race-high 90 laps led.

Yes, it's going to be a good season. Maybe a championship season.

The cars look the same as last season and the past results worked out this week. I think we can approad Las Vegas the way as last week in regards to the drivers I expect to do well.

It was a fun race. It always has been. I saw the first race in 1997 won by Jeff Gordon. It was part of the wave of fandom that saw the rise of NASCAR into a major sport with big television contracts.

We saw the last of the 2-mile layout, and who knows for how long for NASCAR at the track. It's likely going to be turned into a .75-mile short track layout and maybe not ready for two seasons. Maybe not at all.

But this version we say goodbye to, which is odd because Fontana started the rise in West-coast NASCAR nationalized and now we saw goodbye because of a half-Billion dollar land deal.

And I think Busch closing this fun race track sets the beautiful sunset.

Enjoyed the race. Rah-rah NASCAR!