2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series


The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 69th season of professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 46th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the Can-Am Duel qualifying races and the 59th running of the Daytona 500. The season ended with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson entered the season as the defending champion, having won his record-tying seventh Cup championship that he shares with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing won the championship, his first in the series. Toyota won the Manufacturers' Championship for the second year in a row.
This was the third season of a 10-year television contract with Fox Sports and NBC Sports and the second of a five-year race sanctioning agreement with all tracks.
Monster Energy became the entitlement sponsor for the series in 2017 after Sprint Corporation decided not to remain as the sponsor. Sprint had been the title sponsor since 2004 when their partner Nextel replaced Winston after the 2003 season, but Sprint became the official sponsor for the 2008 season after buying out Nextel in late 2005. Monster Energy became the third title sponsor for NASCAR's top series since it first established such a sponsorship in 1971.
The 2017 season marked the final year for three full-time Cup Series drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, and Danica Patrick. It was also the last season for Michael Waltrip. Additionally, Chevrolet retired the Chevrolet SS, replacing it with the Camaro ZL1 in 2018. It was announced that Target Corporation would end its NASCAR sponsorship with Chip Ganassi Racing following the 2017 season.

Teams and drivers

All 36 full-time teams in 2017 were chartered teams.

Chartered teams

Non-chartered teams

Complete schedule

No non-chartered teams ran full schedule in 2017. Originally, BK Racing's No. 83 Toyota, Rick Ware Racing's No. 51 Chevrolet, and Premium Motorsports' No. 55 Chevrolet/Toyota planned to run full schedule. However, they skipped occasional races.

Limited schedule

Changes

Teams

  • Furniture Row Racing would expand to a two-car team with the addition of Erik Jones in the No. 77, who was previously with Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 20 in the Xfinity Series in 2016. Sponsorship came from 5-Hour Energy.
  • Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing split following the 2016 season, with Circle Sport taking the charter. Leavine Family Racing purchased the charter from the No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing team to continue running the full season in 2017.
  • JTG Daugherty Racing expanded to a two-car operation, leasing the charter from the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing team.
  • Roush Fenway Racing downsized to a two-car team, shutting down the No. 16 team.
  • HScott Motorsports would not run in 2017. The team's leased charter for 2016 returned to Premium Motorsports, who sold its charter to Furniture Row Racing. Premium would subsequently purchase the HScott No. 15 charter.
  • Go Fas Racing leased their charter to Wood Brothers Racing in order for the former charter to not be revoked. Immediately after, Richard Petty Motorsports would lease their No. 44 team charter to Go Fas Racing for 2017.
  • Richard Petty Motorsports announced on December 16 that they would downsize to only the No. 43 Ford for the 2017 season.
  • Circle Sport and The Motorsports Group will merge in 2017 after splitting with Leavine Family Racing following the 2016 season. They will run the No. 33 car full-time, and may enter the No. 30 car in some races.
  • Tommy Baldwin Racing will field a part-time schedule with Elliott Sadler for the Daytona 500. They also drove at Texas with J. J. Yeley and with Elliott Sadler again at Talladega and was going to in Charlotte in May, but gave the ride to J. J. Yeley for unknown reasons. On September 21, 2017, Premium Motorsports' owner, Jay Robinson announced that he has acquired all assets from Tommy Baldwin Racing. The acquisition includes Baldwin's entire cup series inventory including everything from the team's race vehicles to their equipment. It also includes the trucks that were leased by TBR to the No. 52 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Team but Baldwin says there remains a few obligations from his #7 team to be fulfilled in future races.
  • Beard Motorsports will attempt to make the Daytona 500 with driver Brendan Gaughan. In late March, they announced they will run the other 3 plate races.
  • Gaunt Brothers Racing will attempt to make their Cup Series debut with driver D. J. Kennington. They will also run the other 3 plate races in 2017. However, they were not entered in Daytona, possibly because D. J. Kennington is running for Premium Motorsports, and they didn't hire another driver.
  • Rick Ware Racing announced that it would return to the Cup Series full-time in 2017 as an open team, with the No. 51 Chevrolet.
  • TriStar Motorsports announced that it would return to the Cup Series full-time in 2017 after leasing a charter from Front Row Motorsports acquired from BK Racing, with the No. 72 Ford. Florida Lottery, RTIC Coolers, Rinnai and Carolina Skiff would be the sponsors of the team throughout the 2017 season. They also did get other sponsors for some races this season.
  • MBM Motorsports announced that they would be running the No. 66 Chevrolet at Kansas. They also ran the Monster Energy Open and several other points-paying races.
  • StarCom Racing announced that they would make their debut at the fall Dover race with Derrike Cope, but they withdrew. The team instead made their debut in the fall Kansas race.

    Drivers

  • Clint Bowyer will drive for Stewart–Haas Racing in the No. 14 car as Tony Stewart retired at the conclusion of the 2016 season. Bowyer drove for the now closed HScott Motorsports in 2016.
  • Brian Scott, who drove the No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford in 2016, announced on November 10, 2016, that he was going to step away from NASCAR competition. Richard Petty Motorsports announced on December 16 that they will not hire a replacement driver.
  • Greg Biffle, who had been with Roush since 1998, left Roush Fenway Racing at the end of 2016. Biffle ended up not getting a full-time ride for 2017 and instead became an analyst for NBC.
  • Michael McDowell will run full-time in 2017 after sharing the car with Ty Dillon last year.
  • Ty Dillon replaced Casey Mears in the No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet in 2017, competing for Rookie of the Year honors. Ty substituted and drove part-time for a couple teams last season.
  • Chris Buescher will drive for JTG Daugherty Racing in the No. 37 car in 2017 on loan from Roush Fenway Racing. Buescher ran the No. 34 Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports in 2016.
  • Matt DiBenedetto will drive the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford, replacing Jeffrey Earnhardt and various drivers. DiBenedetto drove multiple cars for BK Racing in 2016.
  • On December 16, it was announced that David Ragan would return to Front Row Motorsports to drive the No. 38, for who he drove the No. 34 from 2012 to 2015. Ragan drove the No. 23 car for BK Racing in 2016.
  • Landon Cassill will replace Chris Buescher in the No. 34. Cassill drove the No. 38 in 2016.
  • Joey Gase drove the No. 23 for BK Racing for the Daytona 500, Kentucky in July, and Bristol in August and the No. 15 for Premium Motorsports at Talladega in April. Gase drove six races for Go FAS Racing in 2016.
  • Elliott Sadler returned to the Cup series to drive for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the Daytona 500.
  • In December 2016, NASCAR medically cleared Dale Earnhardt Jr. to compete in competition again for 2017 after missing the last 18 races in 2016. Alex Bowman drove in place of Earnhardt in the Advance Auto Parts Clash.
  • On January 11, 2017, Carl Edwards, who finished fourth in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, announced his immediate retirement from the sport. That same day, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Daniel Suárez would replace Edwards in the No. 19 Toyota Camry beginning at Daytona and running for Rookie of the Year honors.
  • Brendan Gaughan successfully attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500 for Beard Motorsports.
  • Timmy Hill will drive for Rick Ware Racing in the Daytona 500. Cody Ware, Kevin O'Connell, Stanton Barrett, and Josh Bilicki will split the ride throughout the season. However, the team skipped Talladega in April for unknown reasons. They also skipped Michigan in June because Cody Ware suffered back issues and couldn't run the race. They didn't find a replacement driver in time.
  • Reed Sorenson will drive for Premium Motorsports in the No. 55 Toyota in the Daytona 500. The team will drive Toyota in the restrictor plate races and Chevrolet in the remaining races. As of now, Sorenson will attempt to qualify for the 500 and Talladega in May in the No. 55 and in the No. 15 Toyota for probably the rest of the season. Although he surprisingly didn't run the 55 at Dover when Ross Chastain was in the 15.
  • Gray Gaulding will run for Rookie of the Year driving the No. 23 Toyota for BK Racing for 33 races and the No. 83 Toyota for two races. He was not approved to run the Daytona 500. However he was replaced by Ryan Sieg at Michigan and by Alon Day at Sonoma. BK Racing alleged financial decision. However he returned to BK Racing in the fall and has been running the No. 83 lately.
  • Michael Waltrip announced he will run the Daytona 500, driving the No. 15 Aaron's, Inc. Toyota for Premium Motorsports. It was his final start in NASCAR-sanctioned racing.
  • Cole Whitt will drive the No. 72 Ford for TriStar Motorsports full-time in 2017. Whitt drove multiple cars for Premium Motorsports in 2016.
  • Corey LaJoie will drive the No. 83 Toyota for BK Racing in 14 races. Ryan Sieg drove at Dover.
  • Former Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope returned to the Cup Series, driving the No. 55 in a limited schedule for Premium Motorsports, with the possibility of a full schedule dependent on sponsorship beginning in Atlanta in March. Cope left the team after the fall Richmond race.
  • Aric Almirola suffered a compression fracture in his back in a crash at Kansas, taking him out for 8 to 12 weeks. Regan Smith drove Almirola's No. 43 at Charlotte and Dover while Xfinity series regular Bubba Wallace drove until Almirola returns from full recovery with the exception of Sonoma which was run by Billy Johnson, who previously ran road course races in the Xfinity Series for Roush-Fenway. Roush-Fenway Racing's operations are suspended for the No. 6 Xfinity team after the Xfinity race at Pocono. Billy Johnson drove the No. 43 at Sonoma. Almirola returned at New Hampshire.
  • Josh Bilicki, Tommy Regan, Kevin O'Connell, Billy Johnson and Alon Day all made their Cup debut at Sonoma.
  • Gary Klutt made his Cup debut at Watkins Glen driving for Premium Motorsports in the #15
  • On August 2, 2017, Brett Moffitt returned to the Cup Series, driving the No. 83 Toyota Camry for BK Racing, for 2 races at Watkins Glen and Michigan. Moffitt last competed in the Cup Series in 2015, driving the No. 55 Toyota Camry for the now defunct Michael Waltrip Racing, and the No. 34 Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports, while also winning Rookie of the Year honors. In 2017, Moffitt was supposed to run the full NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule, driving the No. 7 Toyota Tundra for Red Horse Racing, but the team shut down in mid-May. Moffitt also made a NASCAR Xfinity Series appearance in 2017, driving the No. 96 Chevrolet Camaro for GMS Racing at Iowa in July.
  • On August 30, 2017, it was announced that Hermie Sadler will drive the 7 car for Tommy Baldwin Racing at Martinsville after a 5-year absence from the cup series.
  • After leaving Premium Motorsports after the fall Richmond race, Derrike Cope returned to the cup series with StarCom Racing in the No. 00 at Kansas.
  • On October 10, 2017, it was announced that Justin Marks would drive the No. 7 car for Tommy Baldwin Racing at Talladega.