NASCAR’s Pepsi 500 Sprint Cup event is shortened, changes name

Auto Club Speedway, hoping to boost excitement for the Fontana track’s title-contending NASCAR Sprint Cup race this fall, said Wednesday it would shorten the race to 400 miles from 500.

The race, which had been called the Pepsi 500, will now be the Pepsi Max 400, reflecting both the shorter distance and a different soft drink marketed by title sponsor Pepsi. Set to run Oct. 10, the race is the fourth of 10 races in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup late-season championship playoff.

Attendance and television ratings for many NASCAR races slumped last year, a trend blamed on the weak economy and other factors, including complaints that some races are too long at tracks such as Auto Club Speedway, a wide, two-mile oval where the race cars often get strung out and passing is difficult.

A shorter race, among other things, would force Cup drivers and their crews to shift strategy because there would be at least one less pit stop and they would need to maneuver their cars into contention sooner before the final laps. “We think this is going to create an enhanced level of competition,” said Auto Club Speedway spokesman David Talley.

The track -- located 50 miles east of Los Angeles -- requested the shorter race and NASCAR approved it, said NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston. “If shortening the race makes it more exciting, then we’re all for it,” he said. “The promoter in this case felt there was an advantage to shortening that race.”

But Poston cautioned that Auto Club Speedway’s action would not cause a domino effect among other racetracks on the 36-race Cup schedule.

“There’s nothing imminent with any other track right now,” he said.

In fact, Phoenix International Raceway -- where cars remain in close contact simply because the track is only one mile long -- said Wednesday that it plans to increase the distance of its spring Cup race to 600 kilometers from 500, or to 375 laps from 312.

The Fontana speedway also hosts a second Cup race, the Auto Club 500, which this year is Feb. 21, a week after the season-opening Daytona 500. That race in Fontana remains at 500 miles, or 250 laps. The last time NASCAR shortened a Cup race was in 1997, when Dover (Del.) International Speedway switched to 400 miles from 500.

ESPN and ABC said 14 of the races, including the Pepsi Max 400, would be shown on ESPN this year and three on ABC. Previously, 11 were aired on ABC and six on ESPN.

james.peltz@latimes.com