The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 69th season of professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and the 46th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...

with the

Advance Auto Parts Clash The Busch Light Clash is an annual pre-season NASCAR Cup Series exhibition event held in February before the season-opening Daytona 500. The event was held each year at Daytona International Speedway since the race's inception in 1979 until 2022 ...

, the

Can-Am Duel The Bluegreen Vacations Duel, formerly known as the Twin 125s, is a NASCAR Cup Series preliminary event to the Daytona 500 held annually in February at Daytona International Speedway. It consists of two races, which both serve as a qualifying rac ...

qualifying races and the 59th running of the Daytona 500. The season ended with the

Ford EcoBoost 400 The Dixie Vodka 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Homestead–Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The inaugural race was held in 1999 and was the final race in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2002 until 2019, as well as the final race of the ...

at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...

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. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...

Furniture Row Racing Furniture Row Racing (FRR) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2018. The team was owned and sponsored by Furniture Row, a U.S. furniture store chain, and was based in Furniture R ...

won the championship, his first in the series.

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

won the Manufacturers' Championship for the second year in a row. This was the third season of the current 10-year television contract with

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

and

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

and the second of a five-year race sanctioning agreement with all tracks.

Monster Energy Monster Energy is an energy drink that was created by Hansen Natural Company (now Monster Beverage Corporation) in April 2002. As of March 2019, Monster Energy had a 35% share of the energy drink market, the second highest share after Red Bull ...

became the entitlement sponsor for the series in 2017 after

Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before it Merger of Sprint Corporation and T-Mobile US, merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 ...

decided not to remain as the sponsor. Sprint had been the title sponsor since 2004 when their partner

Nextel Nextel Communications, Inc. was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by T-Mobile US and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and forme ...

replaced Winston after the 2003 season, but Sprint became the official sponsor for the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

season after buying out Nextel in late 2005. Monster Energy is the third title sponsor for NASCAR's top series since it first established such a sponsorship in 1971. The 2017 season was the final season of two full-time Cup Series drivers,

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...

and

Matt Kenseth Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX) Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cha ...

. Earnhardt Jr. would announce on April 25 his intention to retire from full-time racing at season's end after a career which included being a two-time Daytona 500 winner, and two-time Xfinity Series champion, and NASCAR's Most Popular Driver for fifteen straight years. In addition to becoming a broadcaster for

NASCAR on NBC ''NASCAR on NBC'' (visually branded as ''NBC NASCAR'' in logos shown within on-air graphics and network promotions) is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on several NBCUniversal-owned ...

, Dale Jr. would return to make one start per year in the Xfinity Series in each of the next three years. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion and also a two-time Daytona 500 winner, was announced to be replaced in his No. 20 car at Joe Gibbs Racing by

Erik Jones Erik Benjamin Jones (born May 30, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Petty GMS. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That J ...

starting the following year, leaving him without a ride. After he was ultimately unable to find a full-time ride with another team, Kenseth announced he would "not (be) actively seeking" another ride. However, after taking this hiatus from competition, he would return for two more stints in the series in the following years, in 2018 in the Roush Fenway Racing No. 6, where he replaced

Trevor Bayne Trevor Mitchell Bayne (born February 19, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver, dirt racing driver, team owner, and businessman. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 18 Toyota Supra for Joe ...

in select races, and in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42, where he replaced

Kyle Larson Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champi ...

. Towards the end of the season, Danica Patrick announced that 2017 would be the end of her career in motorsports, which included a seven-year stint in NASCAR. During the off-season, it was announced that Patrick would compete in the 2018 Daytona 500 and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 to finish off her career, and dubbing her participation in both as the "Danica Double". In July 2017, it was announced that

Target Corporation Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...

would end its NASCAR Sponsorship with

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech ...

at the end of the 2017 season. It left

Indycar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

as a sponsorship at the end of 2016. It also marked the last season for road course ringer

Boris Said Boris Said III (born September 18, 1962) is an American semi-retired professional racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang for MBM Motorsports and in the Trans-Am Series, driving the No. 2 ...

(until

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

) and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip. It was also the last season Chevrolet fielded the

Chevrolet SS The Holden Commodore (VF) is an executive car that was produced by Holden between June 2013 and October 2017. It was the second and last significantly restyled iteration of the fourth (and final) generation of the Holden Commodore to be manufa ...

, replacing it with the Camaro ZL1 starting in 2018.

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

will expand to a two-car team with the addition of

in the No. 77, who was previously with

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization owned and operated by former Washington Redskins (today the Washington Commanders) coach Joe Gibbs, which first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. His ...

in the No. 20 in the

Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

in 2016. Sponsorship will come from 5-Hour Energy. *

Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Leavine Family Racing (formerly Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing and originally Leavine Fenton Racing) was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. Owned by Sharon and Bob Leavine, the team ...

split following the 2016 season, with Circle Sport taking the charter. Leavine Family Racing purchased the charter from the No. 7

Tommy Baldwin Racing Tommy Baldwin Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the modified ranks. The team is based in Mooresville, North Carolina, and is owned by former crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., son of the late modified ...

team to continue running the full season in 2017. *

JTG Daugherty Racing JTG Daugherty Racing (formerly ST Motorsports and JTG Racing) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team is owned by former advertising executive Tad Geschickter and his wife Jodi ...

will expand to a two-car operation, leasing the charter from the No. 16

Roush Fenway Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Politics *Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana * J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of: ** J. Edward Roush Lake, a re ...

team. *

will downsize to a two-car team, shutting down the No. 16 team. *

HScott Motorsports HScott Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, the K&N Pro Series East and the ARCA Racing Series. The organization was owned by North Carolina bus ...

will not run in 2017. The team's leased charter for 2016 returned to

Premium Motorsports Premium Motorsports (formerly Jay Robinson Racing) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team last fielded the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 LE full-time for Brennan Poole, and the No. 27 Ca ...

, who sold its charter to

. Premium would subsequently purchase the HScott No. 15 charter. *

Go Fas Racing Go Fas Racing (doing business as Circle Sport-Go Fas Racing LLC, and often stylized as Go FAS Racing) is an American professional stock car racing team that formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. Founded by long-time crew chief Frank Allen ...

leased their charter to

Wood Brothers Racing Wood Brothers Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was formed in 1950 by eponymous brothers Glen and Leonard Wood. From 2006 to 2008, the team was merged with Tad a ...

in order for the former charter to not be revoked. Immediately after,

Richard Petty Motorsports Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded as a result of the merger between Gillett Evernham Motorsports (GEM) and Petty Enterprises, with ...

would lease their No. 44 team charter to Go Fas Racing for 2017. *

announced on December 16 that they would downsize to only the No. 43 Ford for the 2017 season. *

Circle Sport Circle Sport Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team was formed in 2011 as LTD PowerSports, fielding the No. 50 for T. J. Bell, and later in 2012, the team fielded ...

and

The Motorsports Group Key Motorsports (formerly The Motorsports Group and Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group) was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded by Virginia businessm ...

will merge in 2017 after splitting with

Leavine Family Racing Leavine Family Racing (formerly Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing and originally Leavine Fenton Racing) was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. Owned by Sharon and Bob Leavine, the tea ...

following the 2016 season. They will run the No. 33 car full-time, and may enter the No. 30 car in some races. *

will field a part-time schedule with

Elliott Sadler Elliott William Barnes Sadler (born April 30, 1975) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing. Sadler is one of 36 dr ...

for the Daytona 500. They also drove at Texas with

J. J. Yeley Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 13 and 66 cars for MBM Motorsports and part-time in ...

and with

again at Talladega and was going to in Charlotte in May, but gave the ride to

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

, and they didn't hire another driver. *

Rick Ware Racing Rick Ware Racing (RWR) is an American motorsports team which currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the NTT IndyCar Series. History The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing wit ...

announced that it would return to the Cup Series full-time in 2017 as an open team, with the No. 51 Chevrolet. *

TriStar Motorsports TriStar Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that used to compete in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series primarily during the early to mid 1990s, suspending racing oper ...

announced that it would return to the Cup Series full-time in 2017 after leasing a charter from

Front Row Motorsports Front Row Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team began running part-time in 2004 as Means-Jenkins Motorsports under a partners ...

acquired from

BK Racing BK Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that fielded entries in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series from 2012 to 2018. It most recently fielded the No. 23 Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion for J. J. Yeley, Gray Gaulding, and o ...

, with the No. 72 Ford. Florida Lottery, RTIC Coolers, Rinnai and Carolina Skiff will be the sponsors of the team throughout the 2017 season. They also did get other sponsors for some races this season. *

MBM Motorsports Motorsports Business Management LLC, operating as MBM Motorsports (and sometimes known as Carl Long Motorsports), is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. M ...

announced that they will be running the No. 66 Chevrolet at Kansas. They also ran the Monster Energy Open and several other points-paying races. *

StarCom Racing StarCom Racing (SCR) was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. Based in Salisbury, North Carolina, the team last fielded the No. 00 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE full-time for Quin Houff in a tec ...

announced that they would make their debut at the fall Dover race with

Derrike Cope Derrike Wayne Cope (born November 3, 1958) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He is known for his win in the 1990 Daytona 500. He last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 f ...

, but they withdrew. The team instead made their debut in the fall Kansas race.

Drivers

Clint Bowyer Clinton Edward Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight yea ...

will drive for

Stewart-Haas Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champio ...

in the No. 14 car as

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...

retired at the conclusion of the 2016 season. Bowyer drove for the now closed

in 2016. *

Brian Scott Brian Joseph Scott (born January 12, 1988) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Racing career Beginnings Scott has been racing competitively since the age of 12. One of his early career highlights came at the 360 Nationals ...

, who drove the No. 44

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

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

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 Tyler Reed Dillon (born February 27, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports. He has also competed in the NASCAR Camp ...

last year. *

replaced

Casey Mears Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978) is an American professional off-road and stock car racing driver. He has raced in IndyCar, NASCAR's three national series including 15 seasons in the Cup Series, SCORE International, and the Stadium Super ...

in the No. 13

Germain Racing Germain Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was owned by Bob Germain, whose family owns many car dealerships across the United States as Germain Motor Company. The team last fi ...

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

in 2017, competing for Rookie of the Year honors. Ty substituted and drove part-time for a couple teams last season. *

Chris Buescher Christopher William Buescher (born October 29, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 17 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing. He is the 2012 ARCA Racing Series and 2015 ...

will drive for

in the No. 37 car in 2017 on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

from Roush Fenway Racing. Buescher ran the No. 34 Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports in 2016. *

Matt DiBenedetto Matthew Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 25 Chevrolet Silverado for Rackley WAR. Racing career Early care ...

will drive the No. 32

Go FAS Racing Go Fas Racing (doing business as Circle Sport-Go Fas Racing LLC, and often stylized as Go FAS Racing) is an American professional stock car racing team that formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. Founded by long-time crew chief Frank Allen ...

, replacing

Jeffrey Earnhardt Jeffrey Lynn Earnhardt (born June 22, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing. He is the son of Kerry Earnhardt, gran ...

and various drivers. DiBenedetto drove multiple cars for

in 2016. * On December 16, it was announced that

David Ragan David Lee Ragan (born December 24, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, and is also an analyst for NASCAR on Fox on ...

would return to

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 Landon Douglas Cassill (born July 7, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing. Early career Cassill was born in Cedar R ...

will replace

in the No. 34. Cassill drove the No. 38 in 2016. *

Joey Gase Joseph Robert Gase (born February 8, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 35 and 53 Ford Mustang and Toyota Supra for Emerling-Gase Motorsp ...

drove the No. 23 for

for the Daytona 500, Kentucky in July, and Bristol in August and the No. 15 for

at Talladega in April. Gase drove six races for Go FAS Racing in 2016. *

returned to the Cup series to drive for

in the Daytona 500. * In December 2016, NASCAR medically cleared

to compete in competition again for 2017 after missing the last 18 races in 2016. Alex Bowman drove in place of Earnhardt in the

. *On January 11, 2017,

Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. ...

, who finished fourth in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, announced his immediate retirement from the sport. That same day,

announced that 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion

Daniel Suárez Daniel Alejandro Suárez Garza (born January 7, 1992) is a Mexican professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing Team. He previously drove in t ...

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 Timothy G. Hill (born February 25, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 56 Toyota Tundra for his own team, Hill Motorsports and part- ...

will drive for

in the Daytona 500.

Stanton Barrett Stanton Thomas Barrett (born December 1, 1972) is an American professional stock car racing driver and Hollywood stuntman who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro for Mike Harmon Racing, and pa ...

, and

Josh Bilicki Joshua M. Bilicki (born June 3, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 78 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Live Fast Motorsports. He has also previously competed in the ...

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 Cody Shane Ware (born November 7, 1995) is an American professional auto racing driver. A third-generation driver with experience in stock car, sports car, and open-wheel racing, he is the son of NASCAR team owner Rick Ware.Reed Sorenson Bradley Reed Sorenson (born February 5, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver and spotter. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 27 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Premium Motorsports, the Nos. 74 ...

will drive for

in the No. 55

in the Daytona 500. The team will drive Toyota in the restrictor plate races and

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

for probably the rest of the season. Although he surprisingly didn't run the 55 at Dover when

Ross Chastain Ross Lee Chastain (born December 4, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing Team. He is the older brother of NASCAR Ca ...

was in the 15. *

Gray Gaulding Dwayne Gray Gaulding Jr. (born February 10, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro for Mike Harmon Racing and the No. 6 for JD Motor ...

will run for Rookie of the Year driving the No. 23

for

for 33 races and the No. 83

for two races. He was not approved to run the Daytona 500. However he was replaced by Ryan Sieg at

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and by

Alon Day Alon Day (Hebrew: אלון דאי, born November 4, 1991) is an Israeli professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet SS for PK Carsport and is a four-time champion in t ...

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. The Aaron's Company is an American lease-to-own retailer. The company focuses on leases and retail sales of furniture, electronics, appliances, and computers. The company sells through the company-operated and franchised stores, e-commerce p ...

for

. It was his final start in NASCAR-sanctioned racing. *

Cole Whitt Cole Daniel Whitt (born June 22, 1991) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. After advancing his way through Kart racing, Whitt moved up to sprint cars and became a development driver for Team Red Bull. After running in the ...

will drive the No. 72 Ford for

full-time in 2017. Whitt drove multiple cars for

in 2016. *

Corey LaJoie Corey Daniel LaJoie (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports. LaJoie is the son of two-time NASCAR ...

will drive the No. 83

for

in 14 races. Ryan Sieg drove at Dover. * Former Daytona 500 winner

returned to the Cup Series, driving the No. 55 in a limited schedule for

, 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 William Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. (born October 8, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 23 Toyota Camry for 23XI Racing and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity S ...

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. *

Tommy Regan Thomas Regan (born September 16, 1977) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado for TJL Motorsports in 2018. Racing career ...

, Kevin O'Connell, Billy Johnson and

all made their Cup debut at Sonoma. *

Gary Klutt Gary T. Klutt (born August 14, 1992) is a Canadian professional stock car racing driver and a member of the 2016 NASCAR Next class. He is also the Host of the Gary Klutt Podcast. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Pinty's Series, drivin ...

made his Cup debut at Watkins Glen driving for Premium Motorsports in the #15 * On August 2, 2017,

Brett Moffitt Brett B. Moffitt (born August 7, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 25 Ford Mustang for AM Racing. He won Rookie of the Year Honors in 2015 in the NASCAR ...

returned to the Cup Series, driving the No. 83

Toyota Camry The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ ''Toyota Kamuri'') is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), the Camry ...

for

, 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

, while also winning Rookie of the Year honors. In 2017, Moffitt was supposed to run the full

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

schedule, driving the No. 7 Toyota Tundra for

Red Horse Racing Red Horse Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team was based in Mooresville, North Carolina. It was co-owned by former Mobil 1 marketing executive Tom DeLoa ...

, but the team shut down in mid-May. Moffitt also made an

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

appearance in 2017, driving the No. 96 Chevrolet Camaro for

GMS Racing Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they field ...

at Iowa in July. * On August 30, 2017, it was announced that Hermie Sadler will drive the 7 car for

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

at Talladega.

Crew chiefs

* Chris Gayle will be the crew chief of the No. 77

for

in 2017. Gayle previously crew chiefed the No. 18 team in the

in 2016. * Matt Borland will take over crew chief duties of the No. 27

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard ...

with

Paul Menard John Paul Christian Menard (born August 21, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing. M ...

, replacing Danny Stockman. Borland was the vice president of technology for

in 2016. *

Brian Pattie Brian B. Pattie (born April 9, 1975) is an American auto racing crew chief who works for Kyle Busch Motorsports as the crew chief for their No. 51 Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Kyle Busch and Jack Wood. He ...

will move over from the No. 16 team to the No. 17 team to crew chief. * Wayne Carroll will become crew chief for the No. 55 team. Pat Tryson, who was the crew chief for the team in 2016, will move to crew chief the No. 33 team. * On March 29, 2017, it was announced that Dave Rogers, the crew chief of the No. 19 team, would take an indefinite personal leave of absence, with Scott Graves replacing him. * On May 22, 2017, it was announced that Slugger Labbe, the crew chief of the No. 3 team, would be leaving

to pursue other opportunities. Justin Alexander, who is the crew chief of RCR's No. 2

team will replace Labbe. * On June 10, 2017, it was announced that Patrick Donahue, the crew chief of the No. 23 team, would be leaving

to pursue other opportunities. Randy Cox will replace Donahue at Michigan. * On July 3, 2017, it was announced that

Donnie Wingo Donnie Wingo (born February 13, 1960) is a crew chief in NASCAR who last worked on the No. 34 team of Landon Cassill for Front Row Motorsports. Wingo has seven career Sprint Cup victories as a crew chief. Biography Wingo began as a crew member ...

, the crew chief of the No. 34 team, would be named the new competition director of

starting at Kentucky. Seth Barbour, who was the crew chief of Roush's No. 6 Xfinity Series team (that shut down a month before at that time) will replace Wingo. * On September 18, 2017, it was announced that Keith Rodden, the crew chief of the No. 5 team, would be replaced by Hendrick Motorsports vehicle production director,

Darian Grubb Darian K. Grubb (born October 9, 1975) is a NASCAR mechanic, engineer, and crew chief who is currently employed at Trackhouse Racing Team as the Director of Performance and the crew chief of the team's part-time No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driv ...

, for the remainder of the 2017 season beginning at Loudon. It will be Grubb's first start as a crew chief since the 2015 season, when he was crew chief for

Manufacturers

will switch from

. As part of the transition, Roush-Yates will provide engines to the team. * On January 9, 2017, at the

North American International Auto Show The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), also known as the Detroit Auto Show as of 2022 and prior to NAIAS, is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., at Huntington Place. The show was held in January from 1989 to 2019. ...

, Toyota unveiled a new Camry body based on the newly unveiled 2018 model, marking the first time that Toyota developed production and racing versions of a vehicle concurrently.

Offseason changes

New race format and points system

The 2017 season introduced major changes to the format of races and the points system in all three of NASCAR's national series, announced during a press conference on January 23, 2017. Most races are divided into three stages, with most races seeing the first two segments consisting of roughly a quarter distance with the third stage being half distance. The only points race exception is the Coca-Cola 600, which is split into 4 100-lap stages. A race is considered official after the completion of the second stage (equating roughly to the previous requirement of 50% of the scheduled distance under the previous format), meaning that the race can be halted with a winner during the third stage due to factors such as darkness or inclement weather. A competition caution is held at the end of each stage, during which drivers may optionally take a pit stop before the restart for the next stage. The pit stop at the end of each stage is optional and teams risk losing track position if they have a slow pit stop or if teams elect not to pit. Additionally, pit road is closed once the leader of the race crosses the start-finish-line with 2 laps to go in the stage. The top 10 drivers at the end of the first and second stages receive championship points, awarded on a descending scale from 10 to 1. The overall winner of each race following the final stage receives 40 points, and the remaining drivers are awarded points on a descending scale from 35 for a 2nd-place finish, to 2 for 35th, and 1 for 36th through 40th. The winner of each stage also receives a "playoff point", and the overall winner receives five. For the first time since 1971, the

qualifying races for the Daytona 500 became points-paying races; the top-ten finishers in each of the two races received points. Following the 26-race regular season, the 16 drivers with the most wins, with championship points as a tiebreaker, will qualify for the playoffs (re-branded from the "Chase for the Championship"). At this point the top 10 drivers on the championship points standings will be awarded additional playoff points; the regular-season champion will receive 15, second place will receive 10, and the remainder descending from 8 to 1. If a driver qualifies for the post-season, their championship points will be reset to 2000, and their banked playoff points will be added to this total. The playoffs will continue to use the existing multi-round elimination format; playoff points will be carried over through all but the final race of the season. NASCAR's executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell stated that the new format was designed to " uta premium on every victory and every in-race position over the course of the season. Each point can eventually result in winning or losing a championship."

Damaged vehicle policy

On February 8, 2017, NASCAR announced a new Damaged Vehicle Policy, also taking effect in the 2017 season across all three national series. Cars may return to pit road for up to five minutes for minor repairs if they are involved in accidents, including repairing sheet metal, use of fasteners and/or tape to re-attach body panels, and reinforcing body panels. The five-minute interval begins when the car crosses the pit road commitment line, and ends once the car reaches minimum speed after exiting pit road; the car may return for another five-minute repair window if further repairs are still necessary. If a car is not able to return to pit road unassisted, the car is immediately deemed retired from the race. Crews may no longer replace vehicle body parts that are damaged via contact or accidents. If the damage was significant enough that the car must be taken to the garage, more than six crew members work on the car, or the five-minute time limit expires, the car was automatically disqualified and could not return to the race. If the driver commits a pit road infraction, 15 seconds are deducted from the repair time as a penalty. Mechanical or electrical failures not caused by an on-track incident are exempt from these rules; they may be repaired on pit road or in the garage with no time restrictions. Senior vice president of competition Scott Miller explained that the new rule was meant to improve safety, explaining that "It's more about crashed vehicles and all that is involved with that, from the crew guys to the drivers to dropping more debris on the track, which always happens. So there are exceptions for mechanical failures, those things can be rectified in the garage. That's going to be up to the series director's discretion to make those calls, but it's not going to be that difficult. These rules severely restrict the ability for cars to return to the race multiple laps down in hopes of gaining minimal points.

Technical changes

Besides the new points system and stage structure, other rule changes were announced over the off-season; * Teams must start a race using the same tires that were used during qualifying. * Based on usage research by Goodyear and NASCAR, tire allocations have changed for some races. Teams will have one fewer set of tires for Daytona (500), Phoenix, Fontana, Martinsville (Spring), Bristol, Kansas, Kentucky, and Chicagoland. Homestead will have two fewer sets allocated, down from twelve. Talladega, Sonoma, Daytona (400), New Hampshire, Watkins Glen, and Darlington will have an additional tire set allocated. * In response to increasing speeds at Daytona and Talladega, restrictor plate sizes were reduced from 57/64 of an inch to 7/8 of an inch. * For non-restrictor plate races, the rear spoiler dimensions were reduced from 3 1/2 x 61 inches to 2 3/8 inches x 61 inches. Restrictor plate races (Daytona and Talladega) will continue to use the previous size (3 1/2 x 53 inches). However, in Kentucky and Michigan, the rear spoiler dimensions were 2 1/2 x 53 inches.

Safety

Several vehicle safety changes are mandatory on all races, including revised steering column mounting, and garage-only fuel couplers. Anti-intrusion plating, escape hatches and toeboard foam are also required on all restrictor plate races, but are optional on all other races. NASCAR partnered with

American Medical Response American Medical Response, Inc. (AMR) is a medical transportation company in the United States that provides and manages community-based medical transportation services, including emergency (911), non-emergency and managed transportation, rotary ...

to form a traveling medical team for the series. Additionally, NASCAR has expanded the concussion protocol which will see drivers involved in accidents undergo additional concussion testing before being allowed to return to the race track.

Schedule

The final calendar – comprising 36 races, as well as exhibition races, which are the

qualifying duel races for the Daytona 500 and the All-Star Race – was released on May 5, 2016. At the beginning of the 2017 season, Atlanta Motor Speedway will host NASCAR's 2,500th race, one week after the Daytona 500. Key changes from 2016 include: * The Daytona 500 is held one week later. * The

O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 The O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) in Fort Worth, Texas. Even though it is advertised as a "500-mile" race, because TMS is a track that is in length, the actual race distance is ...

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24° ...

will move from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. * The

AAA Texas 500 The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The inaugural race took place on November 6, 2005. The race has always started in the late afternoon, gone thro ...

will move from Sunday night to Sunday afternoon. * The AAA 400 Drive for Autism will move after the

Coca-Cola 600 The Coca-Cola 600, originally the World 600, is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on a Sunday during Memorial Day weekend. The first race, held in 1960, was also the first on ...

and before the

Axalta presents the Pocono 400 The Pocono Organics CBD 325 was a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The race was the first of two NASCAR Cup Series races at Pocono Raceway, with the other being the Pocono 350, held ...

. * Bristol and Michigan swap their August race dates, returning to the order that was used through 2015 (the 2016 swap was necessitated by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's coverage of the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

). * Talladega and Kansas swap their October race dates, moving the Round of 12 elimination race from Talladega to Kansas. * The August off week moves back between Bristol and Darlington. It was between Watkins Glen and Bristol in 2016. * In broadcasting changes, the races at Indianapolis, Bristol (summer), and Talladega (fall) will move from NBCSN to NBC, while the races at Darlington, Kansas (fall), and Texas (fall) will move from NBC to NBCSN. With the move, all four restrictor-plate races will be broadcast over-the-air for the first time since 2006. Watkins Glen will return to NBCSN after the 2016 running aired on USA due to NBC's coverage of the

. * The

ISM Connect 300 The ISM Connect 300 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stock car race that was , traditionally held in mid-September at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, the other one being the Ambetter 301 in July. The New England ...

was the final Playoff race for

New Hampshire Motor Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a Oval track racing, oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nickna ...

as a second race at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...

took its place. * At the time of the schedule announcement, the

Bank of America 500 The Bank of America Roval 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race that is held annually at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, United States, with the other one being the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, the race. As of the 201 ...

was scheduled for Saturday, October 7. On April 20, the race was rescheduled for Sunday, October 8 and moved from a night race to a day race. The race broadcast was also moved to NBC, while Texas' November race was moved to NBCSN. * The Monster Energy Open was originally scheduled for May 19. But the race was moved to May 20, marking the first time since 2013 when the Open is right before the All-Star Race. Both events also started slightly earlier in the evening, with the All-Star Race starting at 8:00 PM ET, due to FS1 programming commitments. *The

will be the final playoff race at Charlotte held on the 1.5 mile oval as the 2018 race will be held on the track's infield combined road course (Roval).

Season summary

Race reports

Speedweeks 2017 Daytona Speedweeks started with the

. It was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, but was postponed until Sunday due to rain. Defending winner

Denny Hamlin James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and NASCAR team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He co-owns and ope ...

led the most laps. Multiple wrecks took out some of the field including

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...

getting into the wall after contact with

, Johnson would also get into the wall later on, and

got into the wall after contact with

. On the last lap,

Brad Keselowski Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...

tried to make a pass on Hamlin, but Hamlin came down and got into Keselowski and the two wrecked.

Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Ser ...

sneaked through to win.

Chase Elliott William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II (born November 28, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. He won the 2014 NASCA ...

won the pole for the Daytona 500 in qualifying. It was the second consecutive 500 pole for Elliott and the third consecutive for the No. 24 team. (

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

won the pole in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

). It first time since

Ken Schrader Kenneth Schrader (born May 29, 1955) is an American professional racing driver. He currently races on local dirt and asphalt tracks around the country while also competing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 11 Ford for Fast Tra ...

in 1989 and 1990 that a driver won back-to-back Daytona 500 poles. Elliott's teammate

qualified second. The

Can-Am Duels The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (''Can'') and four races in the United ...

were held on Thursday. Chase Elliott started on the pole in the first duel.

Reed Sorenson Bradley Reed Sorenson (born February 5, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver and spotter. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 27 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Premium Motorsports, the Nos. 74 ...

made contact with

and hit the wall. On the restart, Elliott held off

Jamie McMurray James Christopher McMurray (born June 3, 1976), nicknamed Jamie Mac, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an analyst for '' Fox NASCAR''. He raced in the NASCAR Cup Series on a full-time basis from 2003 to 2018 ...

to win. In the second Duel, Dale Earnhardt Jr. started on pole and led the most laps.

Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blane ...

and Jimmie Johnson made contact after both had tire problems. On the restart, Denny Hamlin took the lead from Earnhardt with two laps to go and held off

to win.

, Brendan Gaughan,

, and D. J. Kennington all qualified for the Daytona 500 while

and

failed to qualify. Round 1: Daytona 500

started the race on the pole. The race was plagued with a number of wrecks, with 35 of the 40 cars involved in wrecks during the race. The race also featured the debut of stage racing.

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-time ...

won Stage 1 of the race.

took the lead in stage two after pit stops and was leading when Kyle Busch had a tire go down. Busch spun and collected

, Earnhardt, and

in a multicar wreck.

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champio ...

won Stage 2 of the race. Toward the beginning of the third stage, a multicar wreck that started with

that also involved Harvick, Danica Patrick,

, and other drivers. Another multicar wreck with 50 laps to go involved

, Ryan Newman,

, and other drivers. Elliott was leading the race as it headed into the closing laps. In the final few laps, the lead would shuffle, with

taking the lead after passing

On the final lap,

passed Larson for the lead and won the race, his first Daytona 500 win and the first Daytona 500 win for Stewart-Haas Racing. Round 2:

Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 The Ambetter Health 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. William Byron is the defending race winner. This race was originally Atlanta's second race of the season and was run as a late-se ...

started on pole. Multiple drivers had tire problems and pit road speeding issues during the race. Drivers such as

, and other drivers had these problems during the race. Harvick dominated the race and won both Stage 1 and Stage 2. On the final round of pit stops, Harvick got caught for speeding on pit road and had to come back losing the lead.

held off

to get his first career win at Atlanta. Round 3:

Kobalt 400 The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the first of two races at Las Vegas with the other one being the South Point 400 in the pla ...

started on pole. Keselowski led the first 60 laps, but

took the lead on pit road.

and

crashed in different incidents in the first stage. Truex dominated the race by leading the most laps and winning Stage 1 and Stage 2. Keselowski took the lead from Truex with 24 laps to go. Keselowski had a power issue and it allowed Truex to regain the lead and hold off

to win as

was spun after contact with

. Busch and Logano got into an altercation afterwards until Logano was pulled away. Round 4: Camping World 500

started on pole. In the first stage, Logano led most of the laps and had some opponents for the lead within the final laps of Stage 1. Logano,

, and

were all in a pack racing for the win, but Logano was able to hold on to win the stage. For the second stage, Logano started to pull away, however; he got three wide with Larson and Elliott and allowed Elliott to take the lead. Logano got a pit road speeding penalty and Elliott was able to hold off Larson to win the second stage. In the third and final stage, Elliott pulled away, but it was Kyle Busch eventually took the lead. Busch there on dominated the race, leading 114 laps, and was heading toward the win, but a caution came out with six laps to go when Logano had a flat tire and ran into the wall, setting up an overtime finish. Ryan Newman, who stayed out, pulled away from Larson to score the win for his first win with

and his first win since

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. Round 5:

Auto Club 400 The Pala Casino 400 is a 400-mile (643.737 km) NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. It is the second race of the Cup Series season (after the Daytona 500) and has been since 2022 as well as f ...

started on pole.

, who started second, could not get going and that held up his lane which caused

to receive damage after running into the back of Hamlin. Keselowski made contact with

, which sent him spinning bringing out the first caution. Larson and

were the two dominant cars of the race with Larson winning Stage 1 and Truex winning Stage 2. Truex had the lead, but green-flag pit stops allowed Larson to regain the lead.

spun bringing out the caution with 20 laps to go, but on the restart the caution would come out again after

hit the backstretch wall after getting hit in the back by Truex. On the restart, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun on the backstretch, which sent the race into overtime. Larson held off Keselowski, who made a comeback after his early spin, to get his second career win and also sweeping the weekend. Round 6: STP 500 BradKeselowskiMartinsvilleWin

started on pole after qualifying was rained out on Friday. Larson led the first few laps, but began to fall back. Stage 1 was won by

In the second stage,

led most of the laps, but a run-in with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. allowed

to pass Busch on the final lap. In the final stage, multiple drivers were involved in wrecks including

, and others. The last 150 laps were a battle between Kyle Busch and

. Keselowski was able to get around Busch and lead the final laps to get his second win of the season. Round 7:

started on pole. Harvick led early until he got passed by

on a restart for a caution for a wreck between

and

. Blaney then dominated the race, leading 148 laps and winning Stage 1 and Stage 2 however, trouble on pit road kept him from winning.

used pit strategy to have the lead in the final laps.

took the lead from Logano with 16 laps to go and held off a hard charging

for his seventh career win at Texas. Round 8:

Food City 500 The Food City Dirt Race is an annual 250-lap, NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. This is one of two NASCAR races held at Bristol, the other being the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race. It was the ...

started on pole after qualifying was rained out. The race was postponed from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon because of rain. Larson dominated the race, leading 203 laps and winning Stage 1.

won Stage 2. Several drivers had problems including

having fuel pump problems,

having multiple issues, and wrecks for

, Danica Patrick, and

. Larson and Truex both received speeding penalties. Johnson held off

to get his second straight win and second at Bristol. Round 9:

Toyota Owners 400 The Toyota Owners 400 is a 400 lap NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. From 2007 to 2011, former race title sponsor Crown Royal named the race after the winner of an essay contest during Dayton ...

started on pole. A few laps into the race,

crashed into the wall. Kenseth led every lap to win Stage 1. Kenseth led halfway into the second stage, but was passed by

. Keselowski pulled away to win the second stage. In the final stage during green flag pit stops, teammates

and

got together, putting Earnhardt into the wall. On the restart, Earnhardt had a tire go down and again got into the wall. On the restart, Logano took the lead from Keselowski, but

had a tire go down and got into the wall. Logano took the lead from

, and held off a hard charging Keselowski for his first win of the season and second at Richmond. Days later, it was announced that Logano's win had been encumbered due to a penalty when it was discovered that the car had a higher rear-end suspension. Round 10:

GEICO 500 The GEICO 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The race is usually held in April or May. The 1997 event stands as the fastest NASCAR race to date ever run with an average speed of ...

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started on pole. Stenhouse led early, but fell back after having trash on his grill. There were various different leaders throughout the race including

, and others.

got into the wall early as Keselowski won stage one and Hamlin won stage two after leading most of the stage.

was involved in an accident after hitting the wall. There was a big wreck that involved

A. J. Allmendinger Anthony James "A. J." Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger's professi ...

, Logano,

, Keselowski,

, and others. On the restart,

had a tire go down and brought out the caution because he wasn't able to make it to pit road. On the restart, Ryan Newman got into the wall, sending the race to overtime. On the two-lap shootout, Stenhouse drove past Kyle Busch and held off

for his first career win and the first for

since 2014 and the first for the 17 team since Matt Kenseth in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. Round 11:

Go Bowling 400 The AdventHealth 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas received a second date beginning in 2011 part of a NASCAR NASCAR Realignment#2011, schedule realignment; with the other one being the Hollywoo ...

started on pole for the first time in his career. Blaney led early and swapped the lead with

and

in the early stages. Busch won the first stage and Blaney won the second.

Corey Lajoie Corey Daniel LaJoie (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports. LaJoie is the son of two-time NASCAR ...

, and

all had trouble. Ryan Newman suffered a blown engine and

and

crashed together. In the late part of the race,

had a tire go down and crashed into Danica Patrick, causing Patrick to hit the wall extremely hard. Aric Almirola crashed head on into Logano and had to be cut from the car and taken to the hospital with a T5 Vertebra compression fracture in his back.

and

got together on a restart. On the last restart, Truex held off

for his second win of the season. Exhibition: Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race In the Monster Energy Open,

started on pole and led all 20 laps in stage one to transfer to the All-Star Race as

did the same in stage two to transfer. In the final stage,

took two tires, but spun on the restart. The battle for the win came down to

, and

. Jones attempted to make a pass as Elliott and Suárez were side by side for the lead, but got into the grass and destroyed the front end of his car. On the restart, Suárez pulled away from Elliott to win and transfer to the All-Star Race. Elliott also transferred by winning the fan vote.

started on pole and won the first two stages.

made a pass on Clint Bowyer and headed to the stage three win. Johnson, Larson,

, and Chase Elliott were the ten drivers that advanced to the final ten lap stage. Keselowski stayed off pit road and led off the restart, but was passed by Kyle Busch and Busch held off a battle between Johnson and Larson to win the All-Star Race in his twelfth try. Round 12:

started on pole. Harvick and

traded the lead early.

got oil on the track and

got into it and slowed down and was from behind by

. Kyle Busch led most of stage one and passed

to claim the stage win. Truex pulled away on the restart, but

crashed into the wall. After a delay due to thunderstorms, Truex won the second stage.

got the lead off pit road and won the third stage. Fuel mileage played a factor as

ran out of fuel with two laps to go and it allowed

Austin Dillon Austin Reed Dillon (born April 27, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver and reality TV show actor. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racin ...

to get his first career win and the first for the #3 since Dale Earnhardt at Talladega in 2000. Round 13: AAA 400 Drive for Autism 2017 AAA 400 Drive for Autism from turn 1

2017 AAA 400 Drive for Autism from turn 1

started on pole and led early, but had trouble during pit stops.

got loose and crashed into

, taking Keselowski out for the second straight week and later on Busch would wreck again. The race was dominated between

and

as Truex won both stages and Larson led the most laps.

also ran up front, but got into the wall and began to drop back, but was the leader during pit stops when a caution came out. On the ensuing pit stops,

got out before Johnson and led the field to green. Dillon led a lot of laps before being passed for the lead by Larson. Larson was heading to the win, but

got into the wall. In overtime, Johnson took the lead from Larson and was in front when a caution came out. Johnson got his third win of the year and his 11th career win at Dover. It was also the final time that Johnson reached victory lane in his career. He tied Cale Yarborough in stock car's most all-time winning list with 83 career wins. Round 14:

started on pole for the second straight race. Busch and

swapped the lead with Busch winning stage 1. Busch continued to lead, but

had the lead as he won stage 2.

and

were involved in a two car accident near the end of stage 2 and both got into the wall hard and McMurray's car caught fire. Busch continued to lead before he pitted and

had the lead and was heading to the win until he pitted right before a caution came out. Busch and Keselowski stayed out under the caution and Kyle Busch pulled away until he was passed for the lead by

. Blaney held off

to get his first career win and the first win for

since

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, and the 3rd first time winner of the season. Round 15:

FireKeepers Casino 400 The NASCAR Cup Series has held stock car races annually at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan since 1969. Traditionally, the track held two Cup Series races, one in June, around Father's Day weekend and another in August. The A ...

Larson and Chase Elliott Battle for the lead in the Firekeepers 400

started on pole. Larson led early until

got to the lead and won stage one. Larson got back in the lead, but Truex got the lead after pit stops and won stage two. In the final stage,

got into the wall after having a tire go down.

had a tire go down and caused a stack up which saw

get into

, who crashed into Danica Patrick. On the restart, Larson drove away from

for his second win of the season. Round 16:

Toyota/Save Mart 350 The Toyota/Save Mart 350 is a stock car racing event in the NASCAR Cup Series that has been held annually at Sonoma Raceway at Sears Point in Sonoma, California since 1989. The race has been known as the Toyota/Save Mart 350 since 2007. The r ...

started on pole and led early.

spun early and collected Danica Patrick and polesitter Larson.

got by

and won stage one. Danica Patrick was involved in another incident when she spun and collected Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

got the lead off the caution and won stage two. In the final stage, both

Daniel Suarez Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

and

spun.

had the lead late until he finally had to pit. Truex began having engine problems and continued to run up front until his engine expired.

took the lead and held off teammate

to win under caution after

Kasey Kahne Kasey Kenneth Kahne (; born April 10, 1980) is an American dirt track racing driver and former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, driving the No. 95 Dumont Jets/ Procore Technolo ...

crashed into the wall for his first win of the season and his first career Sonoma win. Round 17:

Coke Zero 400 The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Daytona International Speedway. First held in 1959, the event consists of 160 laps, , and is the second of two major stock car events held at Daytona on the Cup Series c ...

started on pole for possibly his final Daytona race of his career.

led most of stage one.

and D. J. Kennington both spun early. Keselowski held off Earnhardt to win stage one.

led most of stage two. Earnhardt Jr. had a tire go down and got two laps down.

's engine expired early, taking him to the garage. The "Big One" happened that took out

and

won stage two after passing Hamlin for the lead. On a restart,

spun and collected

spun and took Earnhardt Jr. out of the race. On the restart, Keselowski got into the wall, costing him from going back-to-back in the July Daytona race. Coming into the closing laps,

, and Kenseth got into a multi-car accident that brought out the red flag. On the restart,

spun and collected Denny Hamlin, sending the race into overtime. On the restart, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove past

and held off

for his second win of the season. Round 18:

Quaker State 400 The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart, commonly known as simply the Quaker State 400, was a annual NASCAR Cup Series race held at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. The inaugural event was held on July 9, 2011 and was won by Kyle Bus ...

started on pole after qualifying was rained out. Busch led early, but

challenged him for the lead a few times and won Stage 1 and Stage 2.

spun and collected

while

crashed with

in Stage 2. Truex dominated and led the most laps. With two laps remaining,

blew an engine and spilled oil on the track, sending the race to overtime. On the restart, Truex held of

to win under caution for his third win of the year after

, and

crashed coming to the white flag. Round 19: Overton's 301

started the race on pole after

's qualifying time was disallowed for failing post-qualifying inspection.

cut a tire and hit the wall early in the race. Truex Jr. won Stage 1 of the race. In Stage 2,

took the lead and won the stage.

had a tire rub and a mechanical problem that sent him to the garage for several laps. Kyle Busch had two pit road speeding penalties late in the race. On the final restart,

passed

, who took two tires on the final pit stop while the other leaders took four tires. Hamlin would hold off Kyle Larson to win the race, his first win of the season as well as the first win of the season for

. Round 20: Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400

started on pole. Busch led all of stage one to win after a wreck by

, a red flag from thunderstorms, and a blown engine by

. Busch continued to dominate and win stage two after a three car wreck with

, and

and a wreck by

On the restart after a caution for a wreck from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Busch and

got together and crashed, ending their respective days and ending Busch's chances of winning three consecutive Brickyard 400's.

took the lead and led until he had to pit during green flag stops.

and

stayed out hoping for a caution. With 10 laps to go,

and

got together and collected

and

. On the restart,

crashed and caught fire. On the next restart,

got three wide and got loose and crashed into the wall. There were two more wrecks that featured

, Michael McDowell, Aric Almirola, and others. On the final restart in overtime,

took the lead from Keselowski and was leading when another big wreck took place after Kahne had passed the overtime line for his first win of the year and his first since 2014. Round 21:

Overton's 400 The Camping World 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, from 2001 to 2019. Previously, the race was held in July from 2001 through 2010, with night races held from 2008 to 2010. Fr ...

started on pole. On the opening lap,

spun and caused others to spin and took out Aric Almirola. Busch would win Stage 1 after leading most of the laps. In Stage 2,

spun after contact with

and

both had problems.

got to the lead, but pitted before the stage ending.

took the lead and won Stage 2. Truex and

battled for the lead, but it was Kyle Busch who was able to take the lead from

and get his first win of the season and his first career win at Pocono. Round 22:

I Love New York 355 at The Glen Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Cup Series have taken place at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on the road racing, road course annually since 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1986. Since 2018 NASCAR Cup Series, 2018 the ...

started on pole for the third consecutive race. Busch dominated to win Stage 1. In Stage 2,

ran up front until he had to pit giving the lead to

and Suarez was able to hold off

to get his first stage win. On the restart, Kyle Busch and

got together and spun. Also,

had a tire go down which brought out the caution. Danica Patrick would spin after making contact with Kyle Busch. Even with the incident, Keselowski was able to get out front and was able to take the lead from Truex and pulled away as most of the field was trying to save fuel. With three laps to go, Keselowski had to come in for fuel, handing the lead to

, but Blaney ran out of fuel on the next lap give them to lead back to Truex. Truex was able to save enough fuel to hold off a hard-charging

for his fourth win of the season. Round 23: Pure Michigan 400

started on pole and immediately pulled away from the field and led all 60 laps to win stage 1. In stage 2, Keselowski led most of the laps.

had to come in early on pit road for a problem and it ended up helping him stay out when everybody else pitted to get his 15th stage win of the season. On the restart,

and

made contact with him both of them into the wall. Multiple drivers including

and

all tried to stay out to win the race on fuel mileage, but they had to pit when a caution came out after

had a tire go down. On the restart, Michael McDowell spun and made contact with

which put oil down on the track and put the race under a red flag. After the red flag was lifted in overtime,

zoomed past Truex with fresh tires to take his third win of the season and his third consecutive race at Michigan. Round 24:

Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race The Bass Pro Shops Night Race is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. It is one of two NASCAR Cup Series races held at Bristol, the other being the Food City Dirt Race, but it is by far the m ...

won his first career pole. Jones started out leading a bunch of laps and battled with

and

at the end of Stage 1.

and Aric Almirola both had tire problems early and Kyle Busch was able to win Stage 1. In the second stage, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a tire go down and

spun and collected

, who stayed off pit road, was able to stay out front and win Stage 2. Erik Jones continued leading for most of the third stage, but Kyle Busch was able to get around both Kenseth and Jones and continue to lead and held off the dominant Jones for his second win of the season and also sweeping all three races in a weekend for the second time in his career. Round 25:

Bojangles' Southern 500 The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. From ...

started on pole. Harvick led early until he lost the lead after the first caution.

, and

led the majority of the laps.

had to exit the race early after mechanical issues. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,

, and others were involved in incidents. Truex was able to win both the stages and had passed

for the lead. In the final stint of the race, Denny Hamlin began closing the gap on the 78 due to fresher tires gained by running longer on his penultimate set (and despite losing time as he missed pit road coming in for his last stop). Hamlin brushed the wall and got into

in the closing laps, but was able to take the lead after Truex had a tire go down, picking up both his second win of the season and his second at Darlington. Despite losing the race after winning both stages, Martin Truex Jr. clinched the 2017 Regular Season Championship after finishing 8th and leaving with a 107-point lead going into the final race. Days later, it was announced that Hamlin's win had been encumbered due to a penalty when it was discovered that the car had a higher rear-end suspension. Round 26:

Federated Auto Parts 400 The Federated Auto Parts 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held at the Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, being the second of two races at the track with the first one being the Toyota Owners 400 in the sp ...

started on pole.

got into the wall and Kenseth led most of Stage 1, but locked up the breaks and brought out a caution.

won Stage 1 by edging out

led most of the second stage and won the stage. In the final stage, Danica Patrick spun after contact with

. While under caution, Kenseth got into

as the field stacked up due to an ambulance at the entry of pit road. Martin Truex Jr. had the lead, but a caution came out with three laps to go after Derrick Cope got into the wall. In overtime, Truex got into the wall after contact with

. Kyle Larson was able to hold off

as the race ended under caution for his fourth win of the season.

, and Kenseth gained the final three playoff spots. Round 27: Tales of the Turtles 400

started on pole. Early in Stage 1,

, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,

, and others got speeding penalties as Busch dominated to win Stage 1. In the second stage, Busch began to fall back after pitting for a loose wheel and getting a penalty.

took the lead from

and won Stage 2. In the final stage,

and

spun and Martin Truex Jr. was able to get out front and pull away from Chase Elliott for his fifth win of the season and advancing to the "Round of 12." Round 28:

started on pole for the second consecutive week and led early, but it was

who is able to get by to win stage 1. Coming to the end of the second stage, Truex had the lead, but on the last lap

got into the wall after contact with

and caused a big cloud of smoke and drivers including Truex,

and

all had trouble and Kyle Busch was able to sneak through and was credited for the Stage 2 victory. The final stage was mostly dominated by Kyle Busch as a caution would come out for

after he stopped on the racetrack after receiving a broken track bar. On the restart,

got into the wall and the caution again came out after

got into the wall. After the restart, Kyle Busch was able pull away and hold off

for his third win of the season and moving to the next round of the playoffs. Also,

and

advanced to the next round based on being more than 60 points over the cut line. Round 29: Apache Warrior 400 2017 Apache Warrior 400 from turn 1

started on pole. Truex and

traded the lead for most of Stage 1, but after a red flag caused by

spinning and hitting the barrels at the entrance to pit road,

got out front to win the stage. Larson dominated and won the second stage, but had problems that cost him the lead.

took over the lead and dominated the remainder of the race, but

got by Elliott coming to the white flag to score his second consecutive win and his fourth win of the season.

, Ryan Newman, and

were eliminated from the playoffs. Round 30:

started on pole. Hamlin led to the competition caution and

took over. Harvick dominated the race by leading the most laps and winning both stages. A few incidents occurred including Ryan Newman hitting the wall with

and

hitting the wall while running near the front. On the final round of green flag pit stops,

got out front. Danica Patrick and

got together for the caution. On the restart,

got into

, causing an overtime restart. On the restart, teammates

and

wrecked as Truex held off

for his sixth win of the season and advancing to the Round of 8. Round 31:

Alabama 500 The YellaWood 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, hosting an event in the NASCAR playoffs. The race is one of four NASCAR Cup Series races currently run with tapered spacers, the othe ...

started on pole for his final career Talladega race.

and

got together trying to come to pit road and also collected

led early and dominated the race as teammate

won the first stage. A wreck happened, but

was able to win the second stage. In the final stage, there were multiple multicar wrecks that took out several top contenders including

, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,

, Blaney,

, and

On the restart, Keselowski made a last lap pass on Ryan Newman to advance in the "Round of 8" for his third win of the season and fifth at Talladega. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished his career at Talladega with a seventh-place finish. Round 32:

Hollywood Casino 400 The Hollywood Casino 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. This race is the second of ten races in the NASCAR playoffs, Cup Series playoffs; since 2022, it is the second race ...

started on pole. Truex led early, but got a restart violation.

was able to win the first stage as

blew an engine, taking him out of the playoffs.

won the second stage on a one lap restart.

spun twice, but was able to recover. There was a big wreck that took out

, and others. Kenseth was disqualified for having too many crew members working on his car after the wreck, taking him out of the playoffs. Martin Truex Jr. was able to regain the lead and held off

for his seventh win of the season. McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kenseth, and Larson were eliminated from the playoffs. Round 33:

First Data 500 The Xfinity 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. The race is traditionally held in the fall and has been run in every NASCAR Cup Series season, starting with the sixth e ...

started on pole. Logano led early as there was spins from Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,

, and

was able to win Stage 1 and won Stage 2 after battling with

got into the wall, taking him out for the second consecutive race.

was out front for the majority of the last 120 laps. Towards the end, Logano spun after having a flat tire after a collision with

. On the restart, Keselowski was leading, but Elliott moved Keselowski up the track to take the lead with 4 laps to go. Elliott was leading with less than 3 laps to go, but spun coming to 2 laps to go after contact with

, sending the race to overtime. On the restart, Kyle Busch moved Hamlin up the track coming to the white flag to take the lead.

got into Hamlin as they battled for 3rd and 4th in the final corner and both spun and caused a huge pile-up behind Kyle Busch who edged

for his fifth win of the season and second at Martinsville to punch his ticket to the "Championship 4" for α third consecutive year. Round 34:

won the pole with a new track record.

and

made contact early, cutting the tire of Keselowski's car and causing damage to Busch's car.

and others led early as

won the first stage.

dominated the second stage to win. During the final stage,

spun after contact with

was running well in his final Texas race until he suffered a broken hub and went to the garage. Larson made heavy contact with the wall, bringing out a red flag forseveral minutes. On the restart,

took the lead from Hamlin, but ran into problems late in the race. Kevin Harvick took the lead from Truex and led the final nine laps for his second win of the season and first career win at Texas to clinch a "Championship 4" spot, while Truex Jr. clinched a spot based on points. Round 35: Can-Am 500

started on pole.

managed to pass Blaney to win Stage 1, though engine problems forced Larson out of the race for the fourth consecutive time.

blew a tire, causing severe damage to his car and forcing him out of the playoffs.

took the lead and dominated the second stage, leading the most laps and winning Stage 2. Hamlin stayed out front for most of the first half of Stage 3, before having a problem on pit road which dropped him to 2nd behind

. Playoff drivers Hamlin and

were racing for the final spot in the "Championship 4" late when Elliott – still bitter over their altercation at Martinsville 2 weeks previously – drove Hamlin up the track and put him into the wall. Hamlin had a tire go down because of this contact and got into the wall, ending his Championship hopes. Elliot led into the closing laps, but was passed by Kenseth. Kenseth held off Elliott for his first win of the season, second at Phoenix, and final career win.

clinched the final Championship 4 spot as Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Jimmie Johnson were eliminated from the playoffs. Round 36:

started on pole.

dominated the race, leading the most laps and winning both stages.

got into the wall and Danica Patrick, in her final full-time Cup race, crashed along with

dominated the second half of the race and held off

for his eighth win of the season and won his first MENCS championship.

, in his final Cup start, finished 25th.

Results and standings

Race results

Drivers' Championship

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. ''Italics'' – Pole position set by final practice results or owner's points. * – Most laps led. ¹ – Stage 1 winner. ² – Stage 2 winner. ³ – Stage 3 winner.Stage 3 Winner only for

. ''^1–10'' - Regular season top 10 finishers. ;Notes:

Manufacturers' Championship

Contingency Awards

Notes

* The Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona was postponed from February 18 to February 19 because of inclement weather. * The Food City 500 was postponed from April 23 to April 24 because of inclement weather.

References

{{NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship NASCAR Cup Series seasons *

Teams and drivers

Chartered teams

Non-chartered teams

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Changes

Teams

Drivers

Crew chiefs

Manufacturers

Offseason changes

New race format and points system

Damaged vehicle policy

Technical changes

Safety

Schedule

Season summary

Race reports

Results and standings

Race results

Drivers' Championship

Manufacturers' Championship

Contingency Awards

See also

Notes

References