2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 60th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 37th modern-era Cup series season.

As a result of the merger between Sprint Corporation and Nextel Communications, NASCAR's premier series was renamed as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series beginning with the 2008 season. Coors Light also replaced Budweiser as the Official Beer of NASCAR, thereby becoming the new sponsor of the Pole Award given to pole winner in each Sprint Cup Series race. However, Budweiser was still the official sponsor for Bud Shootout at Daytona in February, and continued sponsoring Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s #8 Chevrolet.

Car of Tomorrow
In 2003, NASCAR began developing a new body for the SAFER Car chassis introduced in 1997. The new body, colloquially known as the "Car of Tomorrow", was first tested in 2005, and received unanimous criticism, from its boxy shape and lack of differences between manufacturers beyond stickers, to its rear wing that, wind tunnel tests revealed, could render the roof flaps completely useless and cause cars to go airborne, and seeming inability to make a good run. The body was originally meant to debut in 2008, but Dale Earnhardt's damning testimony ("It's a glorified IROC car!") caused massive fan backlash against the proposed change, causing NASCAR to scrap the car entirely and continue using the carbody design introduced in 2003. Ultimately, this design would continue seeing use in the Sprint Cup Series until the New Body Program was initiated in 2011 to create more stock-looking cars, culminating in the debut of a new body for the SAFER Car in 2013.

Economic problems affect NASCAR
The Economic crisis of 2008, with high gas prices over US $4 a gallon, caused NASCAR's largely blue-collar fan base to feel the pinch.

While Bristol was one of a few tracks that still sold out, others saw crowds shrink. Daytona International Speedway sold out the Daytona 500, but not the Coke Zero 400. Some track ticket packages now included all-you-can-eat deals, and tracks also offered nearby campgrounds to entice those who come for several days to see Nationwide and Craftsman Truck races. For their fall race, Lowe's Motor Speedway offered discounts on local hotel rooms, novelties and food and drink.

The economy also affected the teams themselves with high diesel fuel prices, with that fuel needed to power the semi-trailer trucks which transport the race cars to and from racetracks. Sponsorships also grew increasingly harder to come by, further increasing the gap between teams. Before the season began, Morgan-McClure Motorsports ceased operations for their single-car team.

Teams attempted to stave off the effects of the "Great Recession" by merging, the biggest example being Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) merging in 2009 to form Earnhardt Childress Racing (ECR).

Divorce of Dale and Teresa Earnhardt
The biggest headline of Speedweeks 2008 was the very messy, very public divorce of Dale Earnhardt and his second wife, Teresa Earnhardt, whom he accused of gross mismanagement of the team.

New Round of Retirements
Several longtime fixtures of the NASCAR circuit retired around 2007-08, including Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, Tim Richmond, Sterling Marlin, and Ernie Irvan.

Technical changes
Changes from 2007 to 2008 were minor. Toyota made minor adjustments to the Camry, while Ford and Dodge made no changes to the Fusion or Charger.

The biggest change was what didn't change. Chevrolet had discontinued the Monte Carlo again, this time for good. However, unlike when the Ford Thunderbird was discontinued after 1997, Chevrolet did not introduce a new model for NASCAR competition. For 2008, all Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams continued running the Monte Carlo SS. For 2009, Chevrolet introduced the Impala SS into competition for both series.