[h=2]2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup unveiled[/h] Thursday, 31 August 2017


By Kelly Crandall








NASCAR's next iteration of its championship trophy was unveiled Thursday.
Designed by Jostens, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup weighs 68 pounds and stands 37 inches tall. Part of the trophy's intricate detail includes the outlines of all 23 tracks. It also has the ability to hold 600 ounces – or 37 Monster Energy drinks – in its cup.

The third championship trophy from a NASCAR entitlement sponsor, the Monster Energy Cup supersedes the Sprint Cup (2004-2016) and the Winston Cup (1971-2003).
With the playoffs beginning in two weeks, the reveal brings a new sense of excitement for the 16 drivers competing for the championship. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup will be presented for the first time on November 19 to the 2017 champion.
"Our goal with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup was to capture the full championship story that unfolds over the course of a season," said Curt Bruns, vice president, motorsports division at Jostens. "We are honored to work with NASCAR to create this original piece of art that embodies what it takes to excel at the sport's highest level."

 

New Cup Championship Trophy 'has Monster's look' - Kurt Busch

Friday, 01 September 2017


By Eric Johnson / Images by Nigel Kinrade

There's a quick 23-second video now out there bouncing off the satellites in cyberspace in which Kurt Busch, wheelman of the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford Fusion, is brought into a white room and, with the pull of a black silk cover, shown the new Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Trophy.
Taken aback, Kurt, literally and figuratively, didn't see it coming.
"Holy S@#t!" he exclaims in the video upon casting his wide eyes upon the 68-pound, 37-inches-tall machined aluminum monolith. "That's a beautiful trophy. It means you're the best of the best and that you've conquered all."
Commissioned by the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing and brilliantly machined out of a solid block of billet by the people at Jostens, the Cup – which can actually hold 600 fluid ounces of Monster Energy (that's north of 37 16-ounce cans of Monster Energy), is a purpose-built, purposely conceptualized piece of silver hardware meant for the ages.

"Our goal with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup was to capture the full championship story that unfolds over the course of a season," explained Curt Burns, vice president, motorsports division at Jostens. And as visual testament to the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series season Burns referred to, the outlines of all 23 Cup Series' tracks are incorporated in the cup section of the trophy. The whole thing took 330-plus hours of craftsmanship to complete and, well, it certainly shows.
"Man, my first thought was, this thing is insanely cool – and it's a Cup," said Kurt Busch ahead of the first practice session of this weekend's throwback race at Darlington Raceway. "We're the Monster Energy Cup Series and it's great to have a trophy that looks the part. Man, just the masculinity of it and the creativity within it too is so impressive.
"It has Monster's look and it shows how edgy Monster is with everything. The sheer size of it, the weight and to have all the track designs choreographed into the top section, I can't wait until the last race of the season. I hope I'm the one hoisting it up in Homestead and filling it up with Monster and chugging it and passing the trophy all around – although it might be tough to pass around because it weighs 70 pounds."
The new trophy would look nice bookended with the Harley J. Earl Trophy Kurt took possession of last February by winning the Daytona 500, wouldn't it?
"Oh, it sure would," nodded Busch. "Anytime you've got a shot at running for a championship or a special win, it's an amazing feeling and makes you revert back to all the hard work and the thought process with the team and how it all came together. And to be in a position to win the first-ever Monster Energy Cup – now that's something special. I mean, any trophy is special when you win and the first time that a big trophy like this this is unveiled, it makes it that much more special. And when all the silver needed to be polished up, well, that would be a good problem to have."
Historically speaking, the original NASCAR Cup trophy was picked up by Big Bill France – NASCAR's founding father – and handed off to new NASCAR Strictly Stock Division Champion Red Byron in the autumn of 1949. Over the next six decades, the NASCAR Cup included the Winston, Nextel and Sprint brands as the series entitlement sponsor.
"The championship trophy has evolved over the years and this one sets a new tone and I think that's what's most impressive," said Busch, who as 2004 Cup Series champion, knows exactly what he is talking about. "There's been some hits and misses, but I think this one puts it to the top level and everybody is going to work that much harder to get it."
The Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs are set to begin in mid-September with Kurt Busch being one of the 13 of 16 potential champions already entered. Keen to be the first driver to sip from the gleaming Monster Energy NASCAR Cup come the final round of the series at Homestead-Miami Speedway the evening of Sunday, Nov. 19, can he and crew chief Tony Gibson make it happen?
"I think we can win it," Busch said assuredly. "Absolutely. That's my job and that's our job at Stewart-Haas Racing. It's our job to bring home the first Cup to Monster Energy and move the entitlement sponsorship forward and keep it in house. That's what we did at Daytona. So it's going to be a smooth process that we have to have through the first round in the playoffs. The second round we've got to be good. The third round we have to attack. And then in that final championship race, we have to execute perfectly. That's how you get through the four rounds of our playoffs."