NASCAR Cup Series

Auto Club Speedway cuts race length

Published Jan. 11, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

In reaction to fan feedback, Auto Club Speedway has shortened its 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup race to 400 miles.

The March 27 Sprint Cup race at the track, originally the Auto Club 500, will now be the Auto Club 400. Last fall, the track hosted a 400-mile race during the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but it's March race had remained at 500 miles. The track will have only one Cup race this year.

“It’s impossible to ignore the on-track excitement we experienced at Auto Club Speedway in October, as a result of NASCAR reducing the Chase race from 500 to 400 miles,” ACS President Gillian Zucker said in a news release. “We’re confident the newly remileaged Auto Club 400 will continue the momentum we have been experiencing and that March’s race will be the most exciting ever at Auto Club Speedway.”

Initial reaction among competitors supported the change.

“I think it’s a good thing," David Reutimann crew chief Rodney Childers said. "If you watch some of the races out there, they can get pretty long and drawn out just like Michigan. California is a place where you have engine failures and things like that because we run a really high RPM on the long straightaways.

"Shortening this race will kind of even things out engine-wise as it compares to everywhere else that we race. I think it’s a good thing for everyone. Now we have to go a little bit harder, earlier, and that should make for a better show for the fans and that’s what matters the most.”