Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into February’s season opening Daytona 500, the drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will all be looking forward to their chance to win the “Great American Race” before embarking on the remainder of the 2017 season, but for two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, next month’s race will be his last behind the wheel. Waltrip notoriously went winless in the Cup Series for the first 16 years of his career before finally breaking through for his first win in the 2001 DaytonaRead 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: 41 Years in Cup: 16 Career Wins: 35 Biggest Accomplishment: 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion For Kevin Harvick, 2016 fell short of expectations, but with one of the best teams in the garage area behind him, his worst points finish since 2012 will soon be a distant memory as he will be gunningRead 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 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 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: 36 Years in Cup: 13 Career Wins: 17 Biggest Accomplishment: 2006 Season (Six wins and an 8th-place finish in the standings) There’s no doubt that now is the time to perform for Kasey Kahne. The 2017 season will mark Kahne’s sixth with Henrick Motorsports behind the wheel of the No. 5 Chevrolet and his thirdRead 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: 39 Years in Cup: 15 Career Wins: 17 Biggest Accomplishment: 2008 Daytona 500 Champion 2016 was a surprisingly inconsistent season for one of NASCAR’s most consistent drivers, but the good news for Ryan Newman is that he’ll have a chance to return to form in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with Richard Childress Racing (RCR)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: 35 Years in Cup: 11 Career Wins: One Biggest Accomplishment: First career Cup Series win (Watkins Glen – 2014) For A.J. Allmendinger, 2016 may not have provided a race win or a Chase berth, but the California native was still able to rebound from a down year in 2015 to make some noise in hisRead 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