NASCAR Cup Series at Auto Club Speedway

History

Prior to 2005, the race was held in late April or early May, and until 2010, the race was run at a length of 500 miles. When the NASCAR Realignment of 2005 was made, the race was moved to February and the week following the Daytona 500.^[1] The race was moved from February to March in 2011. After being pleased with the results of the shortening of the track's former fall race date, the Pepsi Max 400, from 500 to 400 miles, this race was also shortened to 400 miles in 2011.^[2]

The Automobile Club of Southern California, the title sponsor of the track, was the title sponsor of the race from 2003 to 2020. WillCo Intelligent Stored Energy (WISE) Power became the title sponsor of the race in 2022.^[3] The Pala Casino Resort and Spa became the title sponsor of the race in 2023.^[4]

Selected race summaries

• 1997: After nearly a decade, NASCAR came back to Southern California on June 22 with the inaugural California 500. The race featured 21 lead changes among a dozen different drivers. Jeff Gordon passed Mark Martin with 11 laps remaining and sped to victory. Terry Labonte took second, giving Hendrick Motorsports another 1–2 finish.
• 2000: Jeremy Mayfield scores a win for Penske Racing South, his second of his career. During the post-race celebration, Mayfield jumped on the roof of the car and dented it, leaving the car to be too short and penalizing Mayfield championship points. For a while following the incident, NASCAR prevented drivers from being on the roof of the car in the Victory Lane, although drivers were later allowed to jump on the roof during victory celebrations.
• 2001: On what would have been Dale Earnhardt's 50th birthday, the race was running with Rusty Wallace holding off Jeff Gordon at the end. During the celebration, Rusty had a 3 flag to fly around the track in the reverse direction. In 1993, Earnhardt and Wallace ran in reverse to hold Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison flags at the last race in Atlanta that year. After Dale's death, Rusty was the last driver of that group of four drivers to race.
• 2002: There were ten drivers who failed to finish the race; with five of the drivers forcing to leave the race due to terminal crashes while five other drivers had engine issues. Nearly 10% of the 199-minute race was held under a caution flag and the average green flag run was approximately 38 laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s unfortunate accident forced NASCAR to pass a regulation forcing drivers to take the ambulance ride to the infield care center every time they crashed; he did not admit to having this injury until mid-September, resulting in changes to NASCAR's concussion policy. In the end, Jimmie Johnson holds off Kurt Busch to score his first career win.
• 2008: The race started on Sunday, completing only 87 laps with 7 yellow flags and 2 red flags. One red flag was caused on lap 21 during the first day when Casey Mears spun upon hitting the water that had seeps up through cracks in the track, collided with Dale Earnhardt Jr., then got turned over on his roof by Sam Hornish Jr. NASCAR postponed the remainder of the event to Monday due to a lengthy red flag for rain. The rain delay on Sunday also delayed the Stater Brothers 300 to Monday. Carl Edwards would go on to win the event, while he finished 5th in the Nationwide Series race. The Cup Race was postponed at 2 AM ET on Monday and resumed at 1 PM ET the same day. The Nationwide Series Race was held shortly after 5 PM ET on Monday.
• 2013: Kyle Busch won after Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin crashed fighting hard for the lead on the last lap. Busch also took the weekend sweep by winning the Nationwide race the day before. It is the first Fontana victory in the NASCAR Cup Series both for Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. From 2011 to 2013, Busch finished a reverse order: 3rd (2011), 2nd (2012), and 1st (2013). The last lap crash between Logano and Hamlin sent Hamlin into the inside wall (without a SAFER Barrier) head-on. As a result, he suffered a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra in his back, which forced him to miss four races.
• 2014: Denny Hamlin missed the race when he came down with a sinus infection that impacted his vision about an hour before the race, necessitating Joe Gibbs Racing to hire Sam Hornish Jr. to drive the car. The race was marred by a massive rash of tire failures, with over 20 tire failures happening in the race itself. Multiple drivers, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose, and more, fell victim to tire failures and had to work their way back through the field to salvage a lead lap finish. A spin by Clint Bowyer with two laps to go set up a dramatic green-white-checkered finish. Over the second-to-last lap, the field went five wide, with Kurt Busch leading. Over the last lap, Kyle Busch and Nationwide race winner Kyle Larson overtook Kurt for the lead. A side-by-side battle for the lead between Busch and Larson nicknamed the "Kyle and Kyle Show" unfolded. Larson looked like he was going to win his first Cup race, but Busch cleared and moved in front of Larson out of turn 4 and took his second straight win at Auto Club. There were a race-high 35 lead changes among 15 leaders.
• 2016: After a late-race caution, Jimmie Johnson pulls out of the crowd to hold of leaders Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin to claim his 77th career win in the Superman car, passing Dale Earnhardt in career wins. Johnson would later win his 7th Championship, tying Earnhardt and Richard Petty in most career championships.
• 2019: Kyle Busch earns his 200th win after sweeping all 3 stages and coming back from a penalty on pit road, tying Richard Petty for the most NASCAR National Series wins.
• 2020: Following a pre-race tribute to Jimmie Johnson in his final race at Fontana, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman leads a race-high 110 laps to earn his second career victory.
• 2022: The Cup Series returned to Fontana after a two-year absence. The race featured 12 cautions (a new track record) and 32 lead changes, the last being defending series champion Kyle Larson's pass of Daniel Suarez with three laps to go.

Past winners

Notes

• 2006, and 2014–2017: Race extended due to a NASCAR Overtime finish. The 2015 race took two attempts.
• 2008: The race started on Sunday but was finished on Monday due to rain.
• 2011: Race distance changed from 500 miles to 400. Kevin Harvick passed Jimmie Johnson on the last lap to win, the first final-lap pass in ACS history.
• 2012: Race shortened due to rain.
• 2021: Race canceled and moved to the Daytona road course (O'Reilly Auto Parts 253) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[29]

Multiple winners (drivers)

Multiple winners (teams)

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 at Darlington, and in the Inland Empire in the 1970s, the former California 500 United States Auto Club Marlboro Championship Trail race. The 2005 race was famous for Kyle Busch 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, 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 in 1987. The AMP Energy 500 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 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.^[33] 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 in 2011 marking a 2nd race date on June 5, 2011.^[34]

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.