The Pepsi 400 is the current name for the 400 mile (approx. 640 km) NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held on Independence Day weekend at Daytona International Speedway. This 160-lap event was developed to make a second major Cup-level racing event for Daytona which would not detract from the legendary nature of the Daytona 500. Since 1998 it has been held at night by employing a lighting system using parabolic reflectors which allow very intense lighting to be focused on the track in an indirect manner without being directly in the drivers' eyes, which obviously would create a very unsafe situation. From 1963 to 1988, this race was known as the Firecracker 400; prior to that, it was the Firecracker 250 (100 laps, 250 miles).

In 1959, the race was originally scheduled to be a USAC Championship (Indy) Car event. However, after a crash-filled event in April, open wheel racing on the oval was permanently cancelled. NASCAR quickly stepped in and replaced the schedule with a stock car race.

From 1959 to 1987, the race was always scheduled for July 4, regardless of the day of the week. Beginning in 1988, the race was moved to the Saturday of July 4th weekend. In 1998, wildfires in Florida postponed the race, and it was held in October. Before it became a night race in 1998, the race normally started in the morning (10:00 AM or 11:00 AM) to avoid hot temperatures and the frequent mid-afternoon thunderstorms.

In 2007, the 4th of July falls on a Wednesday. The race will be run the next Saturday, July 7th. Thus, the race will be preceded by the New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway instead of the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. It is unknown how this schedule change will affect future schedules.

Even though this is a night plate-race "The Big Wreck" can still happen and cause the largest fireworks display in the south-east of USA. The notable one was in the 2002 race.

The race between 2001-2006 was shared between NBC and FOX (NBC odd years, FOX even years). With the new television agreement, TNT has the race until 2014.