The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Series, and became the Grand National Series the next year. In 1971, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company became the series sponsor, and named it the Winston Cup Series after one of its cigarette brands. After the 2003 season, a new sponsorship deal was reached with Nextel Communications, a mobile phone company, and the series became the Nextel Cup Series. The Sprint Cup name was first used in 2008, after Nextel was purchased by another phone company, Sprint, to form Sprint Nextel. After the 2016 season a new sponsorship deal reached with Monster Energy, an energy drink, and the series became the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Monster Energy was the series sponsor through 2019. In 2020, the series does not have a main sponsor. Instead, there are four "premier partner" sponsors for the series. These sponsors are Coca-Cola, Busch Beer, Xfinity, and GEICO.