2008 Pepsi 500
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| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 25 of 36 in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 2008 Pepsi 500 program cover | |||
| Date | August 31, 2008 | ||
| Location | Auto Club Speedway Fontana, California | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 2.0 miles (3.23 km) | ||
| Distance | 250 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures approaching an average of 76.9 °F (24.9 °C); wind speeds up to 15.9 miles per hour (25.6 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 138.857 miles per hour (223.469 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 39.912 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 228 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Jerry Punch, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree | ||
The 2008 Pepsi 500 was the twenty-fifth race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and the next-to-last race to determine the twelve drivers to compete in the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup. The 500 miles (800 km) race was held on Sunday night, August 31 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. ESPN carried the race beginning at 7 PM US EDT and MRN along with Sirius Satellite Radio having radio coverage starting at 7:15 PM US EDT. This year marked the final time that this race would be run on Labor Day Weekend. In 2009, this race will move into the current spot occupied to Talladega Superspeedway as part of the NASCAR 2009 realignment.
- Jeff Burton joined the NASCAR 500 Start club this week.
- In this week's edition of "The Worst Kept Secret in NASCAR", Joe Gibbs Racing officially announced August 25 that Joey Logano will officially take the place of the soon-to-be-departing Tony Stewart in the #20 Toyota for the 2009 season. Logano will debut in the series next week at Richmond driving the #02 car.
- Reed Sorenson will leave Chip Ganassi Racing and the #41 Dodge and become a driver for Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2009. His car number and sponsors will be announced at a later date.
Qualifying
Jimmie Johnson took the top position for the fourth time this season and 17th in his career, and A. J. Allmendinger closed fast to take the other front row spot, edging Johnson's Hendrick teammate, Jeff Gordon.
Failed to qualify: Tony Raines (#70).
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