The roar of the engines was different back then. Between 2017 and 2019, stock car racing went through a bit of a mid-life crisis, but in a cool way. When you look back at the nascar monster energy race results, you aren't just looking at names on a leaderboard. You're looking at the final era of the "Title Sponsor" as we knew it. Monster Energy didn’t just put their green claw on the trophies; they brought a sort of gritty, motocross-inspired energy to a sport that had started to feel a little too corporate.
Honestly, it feels like forever ago. But it was only a few years back that Martin Truex Jr. was basically untouchable.
Most people forget how much changed in those three seasons. We saw the rise of the "Big Three," the fall of the old guard like Jimmie Johnson, and a playoff system that felt like a high-stakes poker game every single Sunday. If you're hunting for specific stats or just trying to remember who took the checkered flag at Homestead in 2019, I've got you covered.
Why the 2017 Season Changed Everything
Before Monster Energy showed up, the series was the Sprint Cup. It was polished. It was shiny. Then came 2017.
Martin Truex Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team—a single-car operation out of Denver, Colorado—went on a tear that shouldn't have been possible. They weren't in North Carolina. They were the outliers. But the nascar monster energy race results from that year tell a story of pure dominance. Truex didn't just win; he decimated the field. He racked up 8 wins and 19 top-five finishes.
Think about that for a second.
In a sport where a piece of debris or a bad pit stop can ruin your day, he was in the top five more than half the time. He ended the year by winning the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, holding off Kyle Busch by less than a second. It was the first championship under the Monster Energy banner, and it set a ridiculously high bar.
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It wasn't just about Truex, though. That year was the beginning of the end for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who retired at the conclusion of the season. The results from his final year weren't flashy—only one top-five—but the atmosphere at every track was electric. It felt like the passing of a torch.
Joey Logano and the "Big Three" of 2018
Moving into 2018, the narrative shifted. We started hearing the term "The Big Three" every five minutes on the broadcast. It was Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr.
They were winning everything.
Between the three of them, they claimed 20 of the 36 races. If you weren't driving for Stewart-Haas Racing or Joe Gibbs Racing, you were basically fighting for scraps. But here is what's wild about the nascar monster energy race results that year: none of them won the title.
Joey Logano, the guy everyone loved to hate back then (and maybe still does), played the "spoiler" role perfectly. He won at Martinsville in the playoffs after a controversial bump-and-run on Truex. Then, he went to Homestead and just flat-out beat them.
2018 Championship 4 Results
- Joey Logano (Winner): Led 80 laps, grabbed his first career Cup title.
- Martin Truex Jr. (2nd): Lost the lead late, famously saying Logano "won the battle but not the war."
- Kevin Harvick (3rd): Dominant all year with 8 wins, but couldn't seal the deal in the finale.
- Kyle Busch (4th): Finished the season with 8 wins but struggled with the car's balance in the championship race.
It was a classic "short-term memory" season. You can dominate for 35 weeks, but if you don't have it on week 36, the history books don't care.
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The 2019 Finale: Kyle Busch’s Redemption
By 2019, the relationship between NASCAR and Monster Energy was starting to shift. It was the final year of the title sponsorship before the series moved to the "Premier Partner" model we see now with Busch Light, Coca-Cola, GEICO, and Xfinity.
The 2019 nascar monster energy race results were dominated by Joe Gibbs Racing. They were a juggernaut. They won 19 races as an organization. That’s more than half the season.
Kyle Busch was the star, but he actually went on a massive winless streak in the middle of the year. People were counting him out. He hadn’t won a race since June at Pocono. But when the playoffs hit, "Rowdy" found another gear.
In the season finale at Homestead, he led 120 laps. He wasn't playing around. He beat Martin Truex Jr. by 4.578 seconds. It wasn't even close. Truex’s crew actually made a massive mistake during a pit stop, putting the left-side tires on the right side of the car. Yeah, you read that right. Professional mechanics in the highest level of racing swapped the tires. It cost him the championship.
Busch walked away with his second title, and Monster Energy walked away as the title sponsor.
Surprising Stats You Might Have Missed
When we look at the raw numbers from this three-year window, some weird patterns emerge.
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- Manufacturer Battles: Toyota won two of the three championships (Truex in '17, Busch in '19). Ford took 2018 with Logano. Chevrolet, surprisingly, went winless in the championship department during the entire Monster Energy era.
- The Jimmie Johnson Decline: The seven-time champ didn't win a single race in 2018 or 2019. It was the first time in his career he went back-to-back years without a victory.
- The Underdog Wins: Remember Justin Haley winning at Daytona in July 2019? It was one of the craziest nascar monster energy race results ever. A lightning storm ended the race early, and because Haley stayed out while others pitted, he got the win. It was his first ever Cup start for Spire Motorsports.
How to Use These Results for Your Own Betting or Fantasy Strategy
If you're looking at historical data to help with modern-day picks, the Monster Energy years are a gold mine. Why? Because the aerodynamic packages used in 2019 are very similar to what was refined in the following years.
Look for "Track Specialists."
Denny Hamlin, for instance, proved during this era that he is the king of the "flat tracks" like Phoenix and Homestead. Kyle Larson, who was still with Chip Ganassi Racing at the time, was always the guy "running the rim" against the wall. Even though Larson didn't win a title in this era, his consistency in the top 10 was a precursor to his 2021 dominance.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans
If you're digging through old race logs, pay attention to these three things:
- Pit Crew Speed: In the 2019 results, look at how many races were lost on pit road. It was at an all-time high.
- Restart Positioning: The 2018 season was the "year of the restart." Drivers who could gain 3-4 spots on a green-white-checkered finish, like Brad Keselowski, were statistically much more likely to steal wins.
- Stage Points: This was the era where stage racing really took hold. Drivers began racing for points at Lap 60 instead of waiting for Lap 300.
Basically, the Monster Energy era was a bridge. It took us from the old-school, long-haul racing of the 2000s into the high-intensity, "every lap matters" sprint style we have today.
To get the most out of your NASCAR knowledge, start comparing the 2019 results with current performance on 1.5-mile intermediate tracks. You'll find that guys like Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano still use the same "long-run" setups that made them famous during the Monster years. It’s a pattern that hasn't broken yet. Go check the current season's leaderboard—I bet you'll see those same names near the top.