Auto Club spreading its word

California Speedway will become Auto Club Speedway today under a naming-rights agreement between the track and the Auto Club of Southern California, track President Gillian Zucker said.

The auto-services club already is the title sponsor of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Fontana track, the Auto Club 500, which is one of two Cup races the speedway hosts each season.

The speedway also announced that its second race, held Labor Day weekend, would now be called the Pepsi 500 as part of a separate deal reached with the soft-drink maker.

The changes come as NASCAR arrives in Fontana to prepare not only for Sunday’s Cup race, but also for two second-tier NASCAR races Saturday: the Stater Bros. 300 in the Nationwide Series and the San Bernardino County 200 in the Craftsman Truck Series.

Qualifying for the Cup and truck races is scheduled today on the two-mile, D-shaped Fontana oval.

Matt Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing has won the Cup race the last two years and is trying for a three-peat in his No. 17 Ford. Kenseth needs a good finish to rebound from the Daytona 500 last Sunday, where he finished 36th.

But the past might not be a strong guide this year, because all the drivers will be using NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow for the first time at Fontana.

The car was partly phased in at 16 races last year but not at Fontana. However, all the teams tested the car there three weeks ago.

Zucker declined to reveal financial terms of the 10-year, multimillion-dollar pact with the Auto Club but said the deal includes earmarking a certain portion of the club’s annual payment for track improvements and new amenities.

The track and the Auto Club are also looking at ways to offer race-related promotions to the club’s 6 million members in Southern California to boost attendance. “There is no question that this sponsorship has an impact to every single person who walks through that gate,” Zucker said. “This is not about slapping a sign on the side of the building.”

Thomas McKernan, the Auto Club’s chief executive, said the club also would use the track for non-racing activities, such as automotive research and teen-driving clinics.

Opened in 1997, the Fontana track typically draws more than 90,000 fans to each of its two NASCAR Cup races, including spectators watching from the infield. But since the speedway acquired its second race in 2004, the 565-acre speedway hasn’t sold out its 92,000 seats at either event.

The Auto Club has long been involved in motor sports. The Pomona drag strip where the National Hot Rod Assn. opens and closes its season is called Auto Club Raceway.

While corporate sponsors have long bought naming rights for stadiums and arenas in other sports, the trend has been slow to catch on in NASCAR. The only other major NASCAR tracks with corporate names are Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., outside Charlotte, and Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Both are owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc.

California Speedway’s deal marks the first time that International Speedway Corp. -- another major track owner that is controlled by the France family, which also runs NASCAR -- has sold the naming rights to one of its 13 facilities.

Daryl Wolfe, ISC’s chief marketing officer, said potential sponsors have been hesitant because tracks hold only one or two major races a year, while the tracks haven’t found sponsors they thought could properly market the facilities and motor sports.

But the Auto Club deal could be “a template” for more tracks to sell naming rights, Wolfe said.

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james.peltz@latimes.com