The Sprint Cup Trophy is the trophy that was presented to the championship winner of the
premier series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
) from 2004 to 2016.
It is made of
sterling silver with a wood base and it depicts two checkered flags in flight, and was created by silversmiths
Tiffany & Co., whose other major championship trophies in sports have included the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
(
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
)
Commissioner's Trophy, the
NFL's
Vince Lombardi Trophy, given to the champions of the
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
, the
Larry O'Brien Trophy, handed to the playoff champions of the
NBA following the
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...
, and the
Philip F. Anschutz Trophy, given to the champions of
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
.
The trophy is tall and weighs .
It was designed in 2003 by Bruce Newman
[Matthew Scharle, who worked as an independent contractor for the Franklin Mint when they designed it in 2002-03, filed a lawsuit against NASCAR demanding the rights to the design or compensation. NASCAR won the case and credits the design to Newman, who was the Franklin Mint's president at the time]
SceneDaily.com, "NASCAR victory in trophy case upheld"
/ref> and was first awarded in 2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
to series champion Kurt Busch and the last one being awarded to Jimmie Johnson in 2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
.
The Sprint Cup was awarded to the driver who scores the most points after the Chase for the Sprint Cup at a post season awards banquet in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
(formerly New York City) in December and is crowned the champion for that season. The winner maintains permanent possession of the trophy, but some teams display the trophy in their race shop. Also teams who had not won a Sprint Cup usually had a reserved display case located in their race shop for the trophy.
Traditionally, there were three Sprint Cup trophies handed out; one each to the championship driver, team, and primary sponsor.
There was a permanent Sprint Cup trophy at the Daytona 500 Experience next to Daytona International Speedway that featured all of the past champions into perpetuity. Another Sprint Cup was located within NASCAR's New York City offices that is put on display during "Championship Week", when the annual awards ceremony and banquet honoring that year's champion is held and another one travels from track-to-track as part of the Sprint Experience tour.
References
NASCAR trophies and awards
NASCAR Cup Series
Awards established in 2004
Awards disestablished in 2016
American sports trophies and awards
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