Monster Energy Cup Category

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 24 Years in Cup: 3 Career Wins: 1 Biggest Accomplishment: Cup win at Michigan (2016) Expectations are a hard thing to live up to sometimes. That was the case for Kyle Larson over the first two years of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. Although the California native showed flashes of living up to the hype heRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Change. Whether it’s in business or in your personal life, the one and only constant is change. On Monday evening at the Charlotte Convention Center, NASCAR executives announced a major change to the racing for all three of its national series. These changes come as attendance and ratings continue to decline and the sanctioning body looks for a way to keep fans engaged throughout the course of a race. The new format breaks down as follows: Each race will have three stages Stage 1 andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Ahead of the start of the 2017 season, NASCAR announced competition and format changes that will be implemented across the three national series for the upcoming season and beyond. The new stage-based race format will roll out next month at Daytona in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and completely revamps the traditional race format that we have seen in years past. Each race will now be broken down into three stages, with drivers and crewRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With the majority of the races for the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season already sponsored, Chase Elliott and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team still had a few races to fill, but on Monday the team announced a new sponsor to join the fold for Elliott’s sophomore season. Hooters, which has sponsored a car in over 150 races in the Cup Series over the years, most notably for Alan Kulwicki’s 1992 championship season, returned to NASCAR last season after a long hiatus andRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 21 Years in Cup: 1 Career Wins: 0 Biggest Accomplishment: 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion While many changes are occurring across the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage, for some teams there is little to no change. Chase Elliott will be one of several drivers that will not see any significant changes to his team between the 2016Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor In December, NASCAR announced a new entitlement sponsor for it’s “Cup” Series — Monster Energy Drink. The aesthetics of a name change wont be the only difference this upcoming season. Saturday evening, NASCAR released that there would be a press conference Monday at 6pm ET to discuss the format of races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for the upcoming year. This email, sent to every member of the press, began speculation as to what changes the sanctioning body would make to races inRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 32 Years in Cup: 7 Career Wins: 21 Biggest Accomplishment: 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (then Sprint Cup Series) champion With a championship, 21 wins and a seat at the legendary Team Penske, 32-year-old Brad Keselowski has much to be proud of as he nears what many consider the prime era of the average driver’s career. However,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 40 Years in Cup: 15 Career Wins: Seven Biggest Accomplishment: Winning Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in 2010 Jamie McMurray and his Chip Ganassi Racing team may have made the Chase for the second time in 2016, but heading into 2017, the driver and team are looking to do more than just make the 16-driverRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 26 Years in Cup: 3 Career Wins: 0 Biggest Accomplishment: 2013 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion In 2016, Austin Dillon emerged as a driver to watch as a possible championship contender going forward. Driving for his grandfather’s much-maligned race team — Richard Childress Racing — things looked to finally go in the right direction last season. Dillon rackedRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor It was beginning to look like the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season would get off to an inauspicious start, as the first race of the year — The Clash at Daytona — had yet to find an entitlement sponsor with just a month until the race was set to start. However, Advance Auto Parts was announced as the new sponsor for the season-opening exhibition race on Wednesday. According to a track press release, the automotive aftermarket parts provider has also signed on to beRead More