Not What You Meant? There are 4 definitions for 2008 in NASCAR.

2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

About 7 pages (2,223 words)

Questions on this topic? Just ask!

This article or section contains information about a future sporting event or team.
It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

NASCAR's premiere series becomes the Sprint Cup in 2008 as seen in this new logo.

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will begin on February 9, 2008 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout, followed by pole qualifying for the 50th Daytona 500 on February 18.^[1] The season will continue with the Sprint for the Cup beginning September 14 with the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and conclude with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16. Due to the merger in 2005 of Sprint and NEXTEL, NASCAR's premier series will be known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the 2008 season and beyond,^[2] and will crown the first ever Sprint Cup Champion. The series has no connection with Sprint car racing, for NASCAR uses stock car bodies. Coors also replaces Budweiser as Official Beer of NASCAR thereby becoming the new sponsor of the Pole Award given to top qualifier in each Sprint Cup race.

1 Car of Tomorrow
2 Scheduled Races
3 Teams
4 Television
5 Testing
6 Notes and references
7 See also
8 External links

Car of Tomorrow

All Sprint Cup races will utilize the Car of Tomorrow template.^[3] NASCAR announced on May 22, 2007 that the original timetable, which would have the full-time use of the single car template in 2009, was being abandoned as 80% of all owners were in favor of moving the full-time use of the CoT one year ahead so they would not race with two sets of rules for all but ten races. The cars that have been approved for the 2008 season will be the Chevrolet Impala, the Dodge Charger, the Ford Fusion and the Toyota Camry. Dodge had used the Avenger in the 2007 CoT races, but has stated that the Charger will be used full time in 2008.

Scheduled Races

The following table shows the 2008 schedule published by NASCAR: ^[4]

Date	Race	Distance	Venue	Television
02/09/2008	Budweiser Shootout ^≠	90 Laps (225 Miles)	Daytona International Speedway	FOX
02/14/2008	Gatorade Duels ^₪	150 Miles × 2	Daytona International Speedway	SPEED
02/17/2008	50th Daytona 500 ^♣	500 Miles	Daytona International Speedway	FOX
02/24/2008	Auto Club 500	500 Miles	California Speedway	FOX
03/02/2008	UAW-Dodge 400	400 Miles	Las Vegas Motor Speedway	FOX
03/09/2008	Kobalt Tools 500	500 Miles	Atlanta Motor Speedway	FOX
03/16/2008	Food City 500	500 Laps (266.5 Miles)	Bristol Motor Speedway	FOX
03/30/2008	Goody's Cool Orange 500	500 Laps (263 Miles)	Martinsville Speedway	FOX
04/06/2008	Samsung 500	500 Miles	Texas Motor Speedway	FOX
04/12/2008	Subway Fresh Fit 500 ^♣	500 KM (312 Miles)	Phoenix International Raceway	FOX
04/27/2008	Aaron's 499	500.08 Miles	Talladega Superspeedway	FOX
05/03/2008	Crown Royal presents the Your Name Here 400 ^♣	400 Laps (300 miles)	Richmond International Raceway	FOX
05/10/2008	Dodge Challenger 500 ^♣	500 Miles	Darlington Raceway	FOX
05/17/2008	Sprint Open Sprint All-Star Race^†^♣	40 Laps (60 Miles) 80 Laps (120 Miles)	Lowe's Motor Speedway	SPEED
05/25/2008	Coca-Cola 600 ^♣	600 Miles	Lowe's Motor Speedway	FOX
06/01/2008	Autism Speaks 400	400 Miles	Dover International Speedway	FOX
06/08/2008	Pocono 500	500 Miles	Pocono Raceway	TNT
06/15/2008	Citizens Bank 400	400 Miles	Michigan International Speedway	TNT
06/22/2008	Toyota/Save Mart 350	350 KM (218.4 Miles)	Infineon Raceway	TNT
06/29/2008	Lenox Industrial Tools 301	301 Laps (318.46 miles)	New Hampshire Motor Speedway	TNT
07/05/2008	Coke 400 ^♣	400 Miles	Daytona International Speedway	TNT
07/12/2008	USG Sheetrock 400 ^♣	400 Miles	Chicagoland Speedway	TNT
07/27/2008	Allstate 400 at The Brickyard	400 Miles	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	ESPN
08/03/2008	Pennsylvania 500	500 Miles	Pocono Raceway	ESPN
08/10/2008	Centurion Boats at the Glen	90 Laps (220.5 Miles)	Watkins Glen International	ESPN
08/17/2008	3M Performance 400	400 Miles	Michigan International Speedway	ESPN
08/23/2008	Sharpie 500 ^♣	500 Laps (266.5 miles)	Bristol Motor Speedway	ESPN
08/31/2008	Sharp AQUOS 500 ^♣	500 Miles	California Speedway	ESPN
09/06/2008	Chevy Rock & Roll 400 ^♣	400 Laps (300 Miles)	Richmond International Raceway	ABC
	CHASE FOR THE SPRINT CUP			All races on ABC
09/14/2008	Sylvania 300	300 Laps (317.4 Miles)	New Hampshire Motor Speedway
09/21/2008	Dodge Dealers 400	400 Miles	Dover International Speedway
09/28/2008	LifeLock 400	400 Miles	Kansas Speedway
10/05/2008	Amp Energy 500	500 Miles	Talladega Superspeedway
10/11/2008	Bank of America 500 ^♣	500 MIles	Lowe's Motor Speedway
10/19/2008	Subway 500	500 Laps (263 Miles)	Martinsville Speedway
10/26/2008	Pep Boys Auto 500	500 Miles	Atlanta Motor Speedway
11/02/2008	Dickies 500 ^♣	500 Miles	Texas Motor Speedway
11/09/2008	Checker Auto Parts 500	500 KM (312 Miles)	Phoenix International Raceway
11/16/2008	Ford 400 ^♣	400 Miles	Homestead-Miami Speedway

≠ − Non points race involving pole sitters from 2007 races.
₪ − Race to set fields for Daytona 500.
† — Non points races.
♣ — Race will either be run at night, or start in the late afternoon, and finish under lights.

Teams

These teams have confirmed through press releases that the driver and/or sponsor will be with their team in 2008. Many drivers and sponsors have contracts with the teams, even though contracts can be ended early if an agreement between a driver and an owner are made. Teams that must make races for the first five events of 2008 on speed are listed with their owners' points standing finish in boldface.

Number	Driver(s)	Sponsor(s)	Car Make	Team	2007 Standing
00	David Reutimann/Michael McDowell ^[5]^[6]	Aaron's	Toyota	Michael Waltrip Racing	39th
01	Regan Smith^[7] (R)	TBA	Chevrolet	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	17th
07	Clint Bowyer	Jack Daniel's/DirecTV	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing	3rd
08	Carl Long/Burney Lamar	TBA	Dodge	E&M Motorsports	51st
09	Sterling Marlin/Max Papis	Miccosukee	Chevrolet	Phoenix Racing	52nd
1	Martin Truex, Jr.	Bass Pro Shops	Chevrolet	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	11th
2	Kurt Busch §	Miller Lite	Dodge	Penske Racing	New Team
4	TBA	TBA	Chevrolet	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	46th
5	Casey Mears^[8]	Kellogg's/Carquest	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports	5th
6	David Ragan	AAA	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	24th
7	Robby Gordon	MAPEI/Menards/Jim Beam/Camping World^[9]	Ford	Robby Gordon Motorsports	28th
8	Mark Martin/Aric Almirola^[10] (R)	U.S. ARMY	Chevrolet	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	16th
9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser^[11] / Allstate	Dodge	Gillett Evernham Motorsports	20th
10	Patrick Carpentier^[12](R)	TBA	Dodge	Gillett Evernham Motorsports	37th
11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	12th
12	Ryan Newman	Alltel/Mobil 1/Kodak	Dodge	Penske Racing	13th
15	Paul Menard	Menards	Chevrolet	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	29th
16	Greg Biffle	3M/DISH Network	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	14th
17	Matt Kenseth §	DeWalt	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	4th
18	Kyle Busch^[13]	M&M's^[14]/Interstate Batteries	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	22nd
19	Elliott Sadler	Best Buy/Valvoline/Stanley	Dodge	Gillett Evernham Motorsports	27th
20	Tony Stewart §	Home Depot	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	6th
21	Jon Wood/Bill Elliott §/Marcos Ambrose/Ken Schrader^[15]	Little Debbie / Air Force	Ford	Wood Brothers/JTG Racing	36th
22	Dave Blaney	Caterpillar	Toyota	Bill Davis Racing	34th
24	Jeff Gordon §	DuPont / Pepsi / Nicorette	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports	2nd
26	Jamie McMurray	Crown Royal/Irwin	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	18th
27^∞	Jacques Villeneuve (R)	UNICEF	Toyota	Bill Davis Racing	44th
28^‡	Travis Kvapil^[16]	TBA	Ford	Yates Racing	30th
29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Pennzoil	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing	10th
31	Jeff Burton	AT&T Mobility/Lenox	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing	8th
33	Scott Wimmer	Holiday Inn	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing	52nd
37	Eric McClure/other TBA	Hefty	Dodge	Front Row Motorsports	47th
38	David Gilliland	TBA	Ford	Yates Racing	32nd
40	Dario Franchitti^[17] (R)	TBA	Dodge	Chip Ganassi Racing	26th
41	Reed Sorenson	Target/Fastenal ^[18] / Polaroid	Dodge	Chip Ganassi Racing	23rd
42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Texaco/Havoline/Big Red	Dodge	Chip Ganassi Racing	21st
43	Bobby Labonte §	Cheerios/Betty Crocker	Dodge	Petty Enterprises	19th
44	Dale Jarrett §/David Reutimann^[19]	UPS	Toyota	Michael Waltrip Racing	40th
45	Kyle Petty/Chad McCumbee/Other(s) TBA	Wells Fargo/Marathon Oil/Others TBA	Dodge	Petty Enterprises	35th
48	Jimmie Johnson §	Lowe's	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports	1st
49	John Andretti	VOISYS^[20]/LifeLock	Dodge	BAM Racing	47th
50	Stanton Barrett	NOS Energy Drink	Chevrolet	SKI Motorsports	New Team
55	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts	Toyota	Michael Waltrip Racing	41st
60	Boris Said	NoFear	Ford	No Fear Racing	50th
66	Scott Riggs [1]	State Water Heaters	Chevrolet	Haas CNC Racing	31st
70	Jeremy Mayfield^[21]	TBA	Chevrolet	Haas CNC Racing	33rd
77≈	Sam Hornish, Jr. (R)	Mobil 1	Dodge	Penske Racing	7th
78	Joe Nemechek^[22]	Furniture Row	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Racing	42nd
83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull	Toyota^[23]	Team Red Bull	38th
84	A.J. Allmendinger	Red Bull	Toyota^[22]	Team Red Bull	43rd
88°	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.^[24]	AMP/Mountain Dew/National Guard	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports	15th
96	J.J. Yeley^[25]	Texas Instruments DLP HDTV	Toyota	Hall of Fame Racing	25th
99	Carl Edwards	Office Depot/Aflac	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	9th

(R) - Denotes a possible Rookie of the Year candidate.

∞ - The #27 inherits the #36 Bill Davis Racing points from 2007.
‡ - The #28 inherits the #88 Yates Racing points from 2007.
° - The #88 inherits the #25 Hendrick Motorsports points from 2007.
≈ - The #77 car will inherit the points from the #2 Penske Racing car for the first five races of the 2008 season to allow Hornish's entry for those races.^[26]
§ - As a past series champion, this driver will have a maximum of six provisionals available to enter races if needed.

Television

The 2008 season will mark the second year of television contracts with FOX, TNT and ESPN/ABC, and no major changes are expected on announce teams.^[27]

Testing

The first tests will be following the change of the calendar at Daytona International Speedway in the first two full weeks of January. Teams that finished in odd numbered positions (1, 3, 5, etc.) will test January 8 through 10 with a January 11 rain date, while even numbered finishers (2, 4, 6, etc.) are scheduled to test January 15 through 17 with a rain date of January 18. Speed will televise nightly reports throughout this period, as well as the events of the annual Media Tour in Charlotte and the tests in Las Vegas and California.^[28] The remaining dates and tracks that were announced December 4th, 2007 are: