NASCAR Unveils New Cup Series Name and Logo for 2017

The new logo features the icon Monster Energy "claw"

NASCAR announced the new brand identity and logo for their premiere series under their new title sponsor Monster Energy for the 2017 season, unveiling an updated NASCAR logo that still retains the famous "Cup" name that has been a staple of the series since 1971.

The new title of the series will be the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and will feature a more modernized NASCAR logo that still resembles the original logo. The wordmark of new title sponsor Monster Energy and their iconic "claw" logo will feature prominently in the new design. It had been speculated that NASCAR would drop the "Cup" moniker from the new series name, as the wording "Monster Energy Cup" did not seem to be a good fit with the new sponsor.

The NASCAR logo itself features a new updated font, and moves the famous color bars to the left of the wording instead behind it as it has been for decades. The changes are all part of a "modernizing" of the classic NASCAR logo.

The new NASCAR logo features an updated font and moves all the color bars to the left

"Our new NASCAR mark is modern, timeless, and embraces the heritage of our sport," said Jill Gregory, NASCAR senior vice president and chief marketing officer. "It was important for us to recognize our history and implement a piece of each previous mark in the new design. Our goal was to evolve the sport's visual identity to make it concise, relevant and functional, while respecting and maintaining the unique qualities of the original mark."

NASCAR announced on December 1st that Monster Energy would replace Sprint as the title sponsor of the Cup Series, becoming just the third title sponsor in the series history following R.J. Reynolds Winston brand that gave rise to the Winston Cup Series from 1971 to 2003 when Nextel came on board, changing the series name to the Nextel Cup Series. Following a merger between Nextel and Sprint in 2006, the series became known as the Sprint Cup Series in 2008.