Monster Energy Cup Category

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

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams that fly under the Toyota umbrella will have a new look once the season kicks off at Daytona International Speedway next month. The manufacturer revealed its 2018 Camry at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and announced the race version will begin use for the 2017 season. “The 2018 Toyota Camry NASCAR race car has been years in the making, and to unveil it simultaneously with our new production Camry is a milestone moment for our organization,” saidRead 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: 42 Years in Cup: 18 Career Wins: 26 Biggest Accomplishment: two-time Daytona 500 champion Last season started off with such promise for Dale Earnhardt Jr. For the last few years, the sport’s most popular driver had been among the sport’s most consistent drivers. But the 2016 campaign started off inauspiciously for Earnhardt with a crashRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After running on a part-time basis since their inception in 2011, Leavine Family Racing announced on Thursday that the team would be running the complete season in 2017, with Michael McDowell and Todd Parrott returning as the driver/crew chief combo for the team’s No. 95 entry. McDowell and Parrott will run all 36 races this upcoming season, making the organization Chase eligible for the first time in its history. Along with Leavine Family Racing running full-time for the first time, the 2017 season will alsoRead More