2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

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.

[1] The 2017 season marked the final year for three full-time Cup Series drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr.,[2] Matt Kenseth,[3] and Danica Patrick.

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.

[44] NASCAR's executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell stated that the new format was designed to "[put] a premium on every victory and every in-race position over the course of the season.

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.

[48] These rules severely restrict the ability for cars to return to the race multiple laps down in hopes of gaining minimal points.

[51] Besides the new points system and stage structure, other rule changes were announced over the off-season;[52] Several vehicle safety changes would be mandatory for all races, including revised steering column mounting, and garage-only fuel couplers.

Toward the beginning of the third stage, a multicar wreck that started with Jimmie Johnson that also involved Harvick, Danica Patrick, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Trevor Bayne, and other drivers.

Another multicar wreck with 50 laps to go involved Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Landon Cassill, and other drivers.

Harvick led early until he got passed by Ryan Blaney on a restart for a caution for a wreck between Gray Gaulding and Jeffrey Earnhardt.

Jimmie Johnson took the lead from Logano with 16 laps to go and held off a hard charging Kyle Larson for his seventh career win at Texas.

On the two-lap shootout, Stenhouse drove past Kyle Busch and held off Jamie McMurray for his first career win and the first for Roush Fenway Racing since 2014 and the first for the 17 team since Matt Kenseth in 2012.

Danica Patrick was involved in another incident when she spun and collected Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Jimmie Johnson got the lead off the caution and won stage two.

The "Big One" happened that took out Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr. Matt Kenseth won stage two after passing Hamlin for the lead.

On the restart, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove past David Ragan and held off Clint Bowyer for his second win of the season.

[81] Round 19: Overton's 301 Martin Truex Jr. started the race on pole after Kyle Larson's qualifying time was disallowed for failing post-qualifying inspection.

Busch led all of stage one to win after a wreck by Corey LaJoie, a red flag from thunderstorms, and a blown engine by Chase Elliott.

[85] Round 23: Pure Michigan 400 Brad Keselowski started on pole and immediately pulled away from the field and led all 60 laps to win stage 1.

Multiple drivers including Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch all tried to stay out to win the race on fuel mileage, but they had to pit when a caution came out after Joey Logano had a tire go down.

After the red flag was lifted in overtime, Kyle Larson zoomed past Truex with fresh tires to take his third win of the season and his third consecutive race at Michigan.

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).

In the final stage, Jamie McMurray and Erik Jones 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.

"[91] Round 28: ISM Connect 300 Kyle Busch started on pole for the second consecutive week and led early, but it was Martin Truex Jr. 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 Kevin Harvick got into the wall after contact with Austin Dillon and caused a big cloud of smoke and drivers including Truex, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeffrey Earnhardt 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 Kasey Kahne after he stopped on the racetrack after receiving a broken track bar.

On the restart, teammates A. J. Allmendinger and Chris Buescher wrecked as Truex held off Chase Elliott for his sixth win of the season and advancing to the Round of 8.

In the final stage, there were multiple multicar wrecks that took out several top contenders including Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, and Martin Truex Jr. 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.

Ryan Blaney 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 Martin Truex Jr. for his fifth win of the season and second at Martinsville to punch his ticket to the "Championship 4" for α third consecutive year.

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

Martin Truex Jr. dominated the second half of the race and held off Kyle Busch for his eighth win of the season and won his first MENCS championship.