LAS VEGAS - NASCAR announced the new entitlement sponsor for its premier series Thursday, welcoming Monster Energy as part of a multi-year deal.

The room toasts with @MonsterEnergy as the new #NASCAR Premier Series sponsor. pic.twitter.com/KqoS3SFRww

The length and financial terms of the contract were not made public at Thursday's announcement. The energy drink company has been involved in the sport for several years, most notably with Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Kurt Busch in NASCAR's premier series.

"It's a multi-year contract with options," said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. "We never get into specifics with contracts. What's more important than contracts is to build partnerships."

Monster will take the place of departing sponsor Sprint, which has been the title sponsor of NASCAR's top series since 2004. Monster will officially become the third title sponsor of NASCAR's premier series on January 1, 2017. The company's experience in NASCAR and other forms of motorsports was a positive for France and the NASCAR marketing team.

"Motorsports is their DNA and when you walk through their lobby, you see that. They understand motorsports and they understand NASCAR, said Brian France. "When we got to know the team, we learned that they know how to execute, too."

Monster Energy's Mark Hall called the opportunity to become the title sponsor of NASCAR's premier series was rare and too good to pass up.

"This is a rare opportunity that doesn't come along every day," Hall said. "If you had asked me if I'd ever contemplated this, I'd say never in a million years."

France praised the company's attitude and branding, which is geared toward bringing excitement and fun to its events.

"Monster Energy is a brand built on excitement and enthusiasm, qualities that align with NASCAR," said France. "This sponsorship position is the most unique in all of sports and entertainment, and we are thrilled to have a partner that will help us further elevate the series. Today's announcement is the culmination of a thorough search, one that resulted in the right partner at this important time in our sport's history."

Hall said the team will continue its relationship with Kurt Busch as a primary sponsor on the No. 41 Stewart-Haas team. In addition to being the sponsor of NASCAR's premier series, Monster will have naming rights to NASCAR's All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and become the Official Energy Drink of NASCAR.

The name of the Series was not announced, but France did say that NASCAR is making progress on developing a logo and brand for the series.

"We had the opportunity to go out and talk to hundreds of brands," said Steve Phelps, Chief Global Sales and Marketing Officer of NASCAR. "Many of those companies are going to be new to NASCAR, and they're going to bring their dollars to NASCAR. That's been a really important thing for us."

Under the agreement, energy drink sponsors already involved in NASCAR may remain active in the sport. Potential sponsors from the energy drink industry will not be eligible for future sponsorship if not already involved in the sport, according to NASCAR.