The Pepsi Max 400 was a
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
Sprint Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...
stock car race
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...
held annually at the
Auto Club Speedway in
Fontana, California. It was the second of two Sprint Cup Series races held at the Auto Club Speedway (the other being the
Auto Club 500) and in 2009 and 2010 it was run in October as part of the
Chase for the Sprint Cup
The NASCAR playoffs is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as 'The Chase for the Championship' on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015. Si ...
.
History
The event was first held in 2004, added as part of the
2004 NASCAR Realignment, and was partially featured in the film, ''
Herbie: Fully Loaded''. From its inception until 2008 the race was run on
Labor Day weekend, which was previously the traditional date of the
Southern 500
The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...
at
Darlington, and in the Inland Empire in the 1970s, the former California 500
United States Auto Club
The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...
Marlboro Championship Trail race. The 2005 race was famous for
Kyle Busch
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-time ...
becoming the youngest
NASCAR Cup Series winner ever (then known as the Nextel Cup Series).
As part of the 2009 realignment in NASCAR Auto Club Speedway,
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega Superspeedway, nicknamed “'Dega”, and formerly named Alabama International Motor Speedway (AIMS) from 1969 to 1989, is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base ...
, and
Atlanta Motor Speedway agreed to switch dates, with the Atlanta race moving from its traditional fall date to Labor Day weekend and becoming known as the
Labor Day Classic 500. The realignment returned the Labor Day weekend race to the southern United States and gave California its first late season race since the final running of the
Winston Western 500 at
Riverside International Raceway
Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Rivers ...
in 1987. The
AMP Energy 500
The YellaWood 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, hosting an event in the NASCAR playoffs. The race is one of four NASCAR Cup Series races currently run with tapered spacers, the others ...
at Talladega moved into the race date vacated by Atlanta, with the Pepsi 500 moving into Talladega's former October date.
The Pepsi 500 name was used in August 2008, with Pepsi taking title sponsorship from
Sharp. This announcement was made by the speedway's website, Pepsi has been the official soft drink sponsor of the speedway since 1997, before Auto Club Speedway became part of
International Speedway Corporation, owner of several circuits on the NASCAR schedule. This was done despite ISC signing a contract with
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
to replace Pepsi as the official soft drink sponsor of its racetracks in 2008 (the contract is slowly being phased in).
NASCAR announced on January 13, 2010 that they would be shortened 100 miles. NASCAR then announced that, due largely to poor attendance, the 2010 running of this race would be the last as Auto Club Speedway returned to a single date on the Sprint Cup schedule as that race was exchanged to
Kansas Speedway
Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 20 ...
in 2011 marking a 2nd race date on June 5, 2011.
Past winners
*2005: Race extended due to a
green–white–checker finish. Kyle Busch became the youngest Cup Series race winner in 3½ years.
*2010: First event to only be 400 miles/200 laps in length. Tony Stewart scored his first win at Auto Club Speedway in his 19th start at the track, leaving with only Darlington and Las Vegas as the tracks he has failed to win at along with Kentucky.
Multiple winners (drivers)
Multiple winners (teams)
Manufacturer wins
References
External links
*
{{NASCAR Sprint Cup races
2004 establishments in California
2010 disestablishments in California
Former NASCAR races
PepsiCo
Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2010
Recurring sporting events established in 2004
Defunct sports competitions in the United States