After R. J. Reynolds announced in 2002 that it would terminate the Winston Cup sponsorship at the close of 2003, NASCAR sought a replacement that could sustain the series's financial momentum during a period of peak popularity. NASCAR negotiated a new title sponsorship contract with Nextel, a telecommunications company, and the series became the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series beginning with the 2004 season. The transition from Winston to Nextel marked the first change of title sponsor in the series's modern era.
Nextel's arrival coincided with one of the most significant structural changes in NASCAR history. The 2004 season simultaneously introduced both the new sponsor and the Chase for the Championship, a playoff-style format that replaced the traditional points-only championship system. This Chase allowed ten of the highest-scoring drivers to compete for the title across the final ten races, compressing the points standings and dramatically increasing late-season television drama.
The Nextel Cup Trophy was designed by Tiffany and Co., crafted in silver with a pair of checkered flags in flight, providing a prestigious visual symbol for the new sponsorship era.
The 2006 merger between Sprint and Nextel created a new telecommunications entity. Because the series title rights were held under the Nextel brand and Sprint had now absorbed Nextel, NASCAR and the new parent company agreed to transition the series name. Beginning with the 2008 season, the series was renamed the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, though the commercial arrangement itself continued under the same corporate ownership.
During the Sprint era, the Chase format underwent several evolutions. In 2007, the Chase field was expanded from 10 to 12 drivers. In 2011, eligibility criteria were adjusted to include win-based wild card qualifiers alongside points-based automatic qualifiers. The most sweeping revision came in 2014, when NASCAR overhauled the Chase into a four-round elimination format with a field of 12 to 16 drivers, where race victories could automatically advance a driver past an elimination round. The final four drivers entered the championship race with equal points, making the finale a winner-take-all contest.
In July 2013, Japanese telecommunications corporation SoftBank acquired Sprint, placing the series's title sponsor under foreign corporate ownership for the first time.
The Sprint Cup sponsorship concluded after the 2016 season. In December 2016, NASCAR announced that Monster Energy would become the new title sponsor of the series, renaming it the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for 2017. The transition away from Sprint reflected NASCAR's broader commercial repositioning, as the series moved from telecommunications to energy drink branding.
The Nextel/Sprint era, spanning 2004 to 2016, defined one of the most turbulent and dramatic periods in NASCAR Cup Series history. It encompassed the complete lifespan of the Chase format in its early and mid-period forms, the rise of Jimmie Johnson's record-tying five consecutive championships from 2006 to 2010, and a sustained plateau in television ratings following the late-1990s popularity boom. The sponsorship also demonstrated the feasibility of major non-tobacco corporations sustaining long-term title sponsorship deals in NASCAR at a scale comparable to the Winston arrangement, paving the way for subsequent naming rights partnerships.