The Sprint Cup Trophy is the trophy that was presented to the championship winner of the premier series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

) from 2004 to 2016. It is made of

sterling silver Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. '' Fine silver'', which is 99.9% pure silver, i ...

with a wood base and it depicts two checkered flags in flight, and was created by silversmiths Tiffany & Co., whose other major championship trophies in sports have included the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

(

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

) Commissioner's Trophy, the NFL's

Vince Lombardi Trophy The Vince Lombardi Trophy is the trophy awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl. The trophy is named in honor of NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to vic ...

, given to the champions of the Super Bowl, the

Larry O'Brien Trophy The Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy is the championship trophy awarded annually by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to the winner of the NBA Finals. The trophy originally kept the Walter A. Brown Trophy name of its predecessor u ...

, handed to the playoff champions of the NBA following the NBA Finals, and the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy, given to the champions of Major League Soccer. The trophy is tall and weighs . It was designed in 2003 by Bruce NewmanMatthew Scharle, who worked as an independent contractor for the Franklin Mint when they designed it in 2002-03, filed a lawsuit against NASCAR demanding the rights to the design or compensation. NASCAR won the case and credits the design to Newman, who was the Franklin Mint's president at the time
SceneDaily.com, "NASCAR victory in trophy case upheld"
/ref> and was first awarded in 2004 to series champion Kurt Busch and the last one being awarded to

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, ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. The Sprint Cup was awarded to the driver who scores the most points after the

Chase for the Sprint Cup The NASCAR playoffs is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as 'The Chase for the Championship' on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015. Si ...

at a post season awards banquet in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

(formerly New York City) in December and is crowned the champion for that season. The winner maintains permanent possession of the trophy, but some teams display the trophy in their race shop. Also teams who had not won a Sprint Cup usually had a reserved display case located in their race shop for the trophy. Traditionally, there were three Sprint Cup trophies handed out; one each to the championship driver, team, and primary sponsor. There was a permanent Sprint Cup trophy at the

Daytona 500 Experience The Daytona 500 Experience, formerly known as Daytona USA, was an interactive motorsports attraction and museum located at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Intrinsically linked to the Daytona 500, the museum primarily foc ...

next to

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 NASC ...

that featured all of the past champions into perpetuity. Another Sprint Cup was located within NASCAR's New York City offices that is put on display during "Championship Week", when the annual awards ceremony and banquet honoring that year's champion is held and another one travels from track-to-track as part of the Sprint Experience tour.

References

NASCAR trophies and awards NASCAR Cup Series Awards established in 2004 Awards disestablished in 2016 Sports trophies and awards {{Nevada-sport-stub