If you close your eyes and think back to the nascar 2017 cup schedule, you probably remember it as a bit of a turning point. It wasn't just another year of turning left. It was the year things got weird—in a good way. We saw the introduction of stage racing, which basically took everything we knew about race strategy and tossed it out the window.
Honestly, it was chaotic.
The 2017 season was the first time fans had to deal with a schedule that wasn't just a list of dates, but a series of tactical puzzles. NASCAR split races into three segments, and suddenly, the nascar 2017 cup schedule became a hunt for "playoff points." You couldn't just cruise for 400 miles anymore. You had to be "on" from the green flag.
The Monster Energy Era and a Packed Calendar
2017 was the inaugural year for Monster Energy as the title sponsor. The vibe changed. The colors changed. But the grind stayed the same. The schedule kicked off, as it always does, with the Daytona 500 on February 26.
Kurt Busch won that one. It was a fuel-mileage crapshoot that left half the field in the garage.
Following Daytona, the series headed west for the "West Coast Swing." We’re talking Atlanta (which isn't west, but served as the bridge), then Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Fontana. By the time the teams got back to the East Coast for Martinsville on April 2, everyone was already exhausted. That's the thing about the Cup schedule—it's relentless. 36 races. 10 months. Almost no weekends off.
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Why the Spring Races Mattered More Than Ever
In previous years, you could sort of "sleep" through the spring. Not in 2017. Because of the new points system tied to the nascar 2017 cup schedule, winning a stage in April mattered just as much as winning one in August.
Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. figured this out faster than anyone else. While some teams were still trying to understand the math, the 78 team (Furniture Row Racing) was out there hoovering up points like a vacuum cleaner.
Truex Jr. was a machine. He didn't just win races; he dominated the segments. If you look at the schedule from that year, his name is written all over the summer stretch. Kentucky, Kansas, Chicago—he was untouchable on the 1.5-mile tracks.
Breaking Down the Summer Slog
Summer in NASCAR is brutal. The nascar 2017 cup schedule took drivers through the hottest parts of the country during the hottest months of the year.
- The Coca-Cola 600 (May 28): Austin Dillon stretched his fuel to the limit to get his first career win. It was a polarising moment for fans, but a huge win for the iconic No. 3 car.
- The Brickyard 400 (July 23): This was arguably the most insane race of the season. Kasey Kahne won it in a survival of the fittest scenario that ended in near-darkness. It was his final Cup win, and it happened on one of the most historic dates on the calendar.
- Bristol Night Race (August 19): Kyle Busch swept the weekend. He won the Trucks, the Xfinity, and the Cup race. Love him or hate him, the man owned that specific date on the 2017 schedule.
Most people forget that 2017 was also Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s final full-time season. Every stop on the nascar 2017 cup schedule turned into a "retirement tour" stop. From the "Appreci88ion" campaign to the constant tributes, the schedule felt like a long goodbye to the sport's most popular driver. It added a layer of sentimentality to tracks like Talladega and Richmond that you usually don't see.
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The 2017 Playoffs: A High-Stakes Finale
When the "regular season" ended at Richmond on September 9, the field was set. But the playoff portion of the nascar 2017 cup schedule is where the drama really ramped up. The ten-race stretch started at Chicagoland and ended at Homestead-Miami.
The Round of 16 and Round of 12
The schedule took us through New Hampshire, Dover, and then the chaos of Charlotte.
Wait. Let's talk about Dover for a second.
Chase Elliott almost had it. He was leading with a handful of laps to go, and Kyle Busch hunted him down. It was a heartbreaker. That’s the beauty of the schedule; certain tracks favor certain driving styles, and the "Monster Mile" in the fall is where the veterans usually separate themselves from the kids.
The Round of 12 concluded at Talladega and Kansas. Talladega (October 15) was a demolition derby. Only 14 cars finished the race. Brad Keselowski survived the carnage, but for many others, their championship hopes died in the Alabama infield.
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The Penultimate Pressure
By the time we hit the Round of 8, the pressure was suffocating.
- Martinsville (Oct 29): This race featured the infamous "bump and run" (or just "dump") where Denny Hamlin sent Chase Elliott into the wall.
- Texas (Nov 5): Kevin Harvick showed why he's the king of the 1.5-milers.
- Phoenix (Nov 12): Matt Kenseth, in what many thought was his final year, won an emotional race, while the playoff field was finalized for the finale.
Homestead: Where the Schedule Ended and History Began
The final date on the nascar 2017 cup schedule was November 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Four drivers had a shot: Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Brad Keselowski.
It was poetic.
Truex Jr., driving for a "single-car team" based in Denver, Colorado—far away from the North Carolina hub—held off a charging Kyle Busch to win the race and the championship. It was the culmination of 36 weeks of travel, thousands of miles, and a complete reimagining of how NASCAR worked.
The 2017 season proved that the schedule isn't just a list of places. It's an endurance test.
Actionable Insights for Retro NASCAR Fans
If you're looking to revisit this era or understand how it shaped today's racing, here is what you should do:
- Watch the 2017 Brickyard 400 highlights. It is the perfect example of how the schedule and the heat can create a race of attrition that defies logic.
- Analyze the Stage Points. Go back and look at the points gap Martin Truex Jr. built throughout the summer. It changed how every crew chief approached the nascar 2017 cup schedule in the years that followed.
- Study the "Young Gun" transition. 2017 was the year we saw the old guard (Earnhardt Jr., Kenseth) start to fade out while guys like Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney proved they could compete on every track type on the calendar.
- Check the Track Surface Data. 2017 was one of the last years before several major repaves. Tracks like Chicagoland and Kentucky were "bumpy" and had character, which produced much better racing than the smooth, slot-car style we often see now.
The 2017 season wasn't perfect, but it was honest. It was a bridge between the classic era of NASCAR and the highly technical, stage-heavy version we watch today. Understanding that year's schedule is the key to understanding why the sport looks the way it does now.