2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

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The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 69th season of professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 46th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the Can-Am Duel qualifying races and the 59th running of the Daytona 500. The season ended with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson entered the season as the defending champion, having won his record-tying seventh Cup championship that he shares with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing won the championship, his first in the series. Toyota won the Manufacturers' Championship for the second year in a row.

This was the third season of the current 10-year television contract with Fox Sports and NBC Sports and the second of a five-year race sanctioning agreement with all tracks.

Monster Energy became the entitlement sponsor for the series in 2017 after Sprint Corporation decided not to remain as the sponsor. Sprint had been the title sponsor since 2004 when their partner Nextel replaced Winston after the 2003 season, but Sprint became the official sponsor for the 2008 season after buying out Nextel in late 2005. Monster Energy is the third title sponsor for NASCAR's top series since it first established such a sponsorship in 1971.^[1]

The 2017 season was the final season of two full-time Cup Series drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth. 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.^[2] In addition to becoming a broadcaster for NASCAR on NBC, 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 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.^[3] 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 in select races, and in 2020 in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42, where he replaced Kyle Larson.

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 would end its NASCAR Sponsorship with Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the 2017 season. It left Indycar as a sponsorship at the end of 2016.

It also marked the last season for road course ringer Boris Said (until 2022) and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip. It was also the last season Chevrolet fielded the Chevrolet SS, replacing it with the Camaro ZL1 starting in 2018.