Monster Energy Cup Category

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Another ripple effect of Carl Edwards leaving the sport, is where do his former sponsors go? Obviously Arris will be sticking around to sponsor Daniel Suarez’s Rookie of the Year campaign, but what about the other affiliated sponsors from the No. 19 team? Sports Clips — who had sponsored Edwards for the last couple of years, has announced via their website that they will be moving their primary sponsorship over to Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota Camry for two races, and they will adorn theRead 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: 23 Years in Cup: 1 Career Wins: 0 Biggest Accomplishment: Led 252 laps en route to winning Xfinity Race at Iowa in 2015 Ryan Blaney flashed signs of brilliance throughout his rookie campaign in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but overall his first year was wildly inconsistent. Blaney’s best finish on the season was fourth,Read More

By Brian Eberly, 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: 25 Years in Cup: 7 (Five part-time with Wood Brothers and two full-time with Roush-Fenway) Career Wins: 1 Biggest Accomplishment: 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne came into the Cup Series with a bang, winning a race in just his second start. And it wasn’t just any race; Bayne took the No. 21 Wood BrothersRead 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: 29 Years in Cup: 5 Career Wins: 0 Biggest Accomplishment: Two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion (2011, 2012) Entering the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, several drivers are looking to turn their luck around. One of those drivers is Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. In 2017 Stenhouse is entering his fifth full-time season at the top level in NASCAR. BothRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Ahead of the 59th running of the Daytona 500 in February, two more teams have thrown their hat into the ring to attempt to make the 40-car field in the Great American Race. Two of the regulars in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Brendan Gaughan and Elliott Sadler, will try their luck next month at Daytona as they look to make another start in NASCAR’s Super Bowl. Should they make it in, Gaughan would be making his second Daytona 500 start and first since 2004, whileRead 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: 34 Years in Cup: 4 Career Wins: 0 Biggest Accomplishment: 2013 Daytona 500 Polesitter In many ways, 2017 has already been a good year for Danica Patrick. The lone female in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS), Patrick has filled the early parts of the year with activities away from the race track, launching herRead More

By Mike Hembree, NASCAR Wire Service HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – The phone call interrupted Daniel Suarez’s lunch. He didn’t mind. Team owner Joe Gibbs was calling with the surprising news that Suarez, winner of the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship last season, would be promoted to drive the team’s No. 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota in 2017 as a replacement for Carl Edwards. Edwards had told Gibbs about his decision to leave racing during the Christmas holidays. “I was having lunch with my girlfriend and her family,” Suarez said WednesdayRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a day of much speculation regarding a report that he would be stepping away from driving full-time in NASCAR, Carl Edwards and Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed that Edwards would indeed not be driving in 2017 in a press conference on Wednesday morning. Since joining the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2004, Edwards has shown class and dignity every step of the way and that did not change as he explained his reasoning for stepping away from the cockpit in the prime of hisRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Nobody expected to wake up Tuesday morning to news that one of the four drivers who competed for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship would be leaving the sport. However, a report from Tom Jensen of Fox Sports suggests that Carl Edwards will step away from NASCAR in 2017. According to the report, Edwards will be pursuing interests outside of driving a race car. Joe Gibbs Racing has a press conference scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET, and it is expected that EdwardsRead 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: 37 Years in Cup: 12 Career Wins: 8 Biggest Accomplishment: Three win season in 2012 leading to runner-up finish in season standings There is likely no driver more excited for the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season than Clint Bowyer. After suffering through his worst season to date in 2016, Bowyer finally gets toRead More