NASCAR Draft Kit: 2020 Top Rookies

The 2020 rookie class will be a lot larger than last season's group.  The level of talent is way off the charts when we examine their racing resumes.  We have some very seasoned, young Xfinity Series drivers who will make the transition this season, and they're not entirely unfamiliar with NASCAR Cup Series cars.  

In addition to our full-time rookies some young drivers will make part-time forays into the world of NASCAR Cup Series racing from the lower divisions of the sport.  The transition from the Xfinity Series or Gander Outdoors Truck Series to the top division of NASCAR is always a big adjustment for young drivers.  

However, as last season showed, drivers like Ryan Preece and Daniel Hemric will have their highlights to go along with their struggles.  We'll look at the ROTY candidates and some of the young, up-and-coming drivers who will make part-time starts in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, and give you some in-depth analysis on which rookie drivers are the ones to watch closely.

ROOKIE DRIVERS

Cole Custer
Car: No. 41
Team: Stewart Haas Racing
Manufacturer: Ford

He may not have won the Xfinity Series championship each of the last two seasons, but Custer could be positioned to be the most successful driver of this season's deep rookie class.  The Stewart Haas Racing youngster won an incredible seven races last year but was upstaged by Tyler Reddick in the finale at Homestead, and that would be the difference in winning and losing the Xfinity Series title.  Custer takes over the steady No. 41 Ford that Daniel Suarez piloted last season.  He'll bring crew chief, Mike Shiplett, with him from his Xfinity Series team and the duo will continue their development together.  This young driver has won at every level he's raced and there's no reason to think Custer can't continue to do so in the Cup Series.  The talent level has been obvious since nearly the beginning.  Custer became the youngest pole winner and race winner in NASCAR history with his incredible truck series efforts at the age of 16.  When we measure the skill of this young driver and the potential of the team he's taking over, it's clear that Custer has the inside track on the ROTY award in 2020.

Tyler Reddick
Car: No. 9
Team: Richard Childress Racing
Manufacturer: Chevrolet

The two-time defending Xfinity Series champion makes his move to NASCAR's top division in 2020.  Reddick has done nothing less than impress to the maximum throughout his racing career.  It was capped off with his monstrous six-win, 24 Top-5 performance last season in Richard Childress Racing's No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro in the Xfinity Series.  The incredible campaign netted Reddick his second-straight championship in that division of NASCAR.  He'll bring the crew chief, Randall Burnett, that guided him to that incredible season and championship into the No. 8 RCR Chevy team in the Cup Series.  The continuity of this winning combination and this great chemistry should continue.  Although Reddick faces some uphill battles to boost the same team that Daniel Hemric raced to just two Top-10 finishes and a 25th-place points finish in 2019.  Those obstacles may be a bit to overcome for this talented youngster, but Reddick should quickly get this slumping race team pointed back in the right direction.  By the end of the season we expect this RCR prodigy to give Cole Custer a run for his money in the Rookie of the Year battle.

Christopher Bell
Car: No. 95
Team: Leavine Family Racing
Manufacturer: Toyota

Although Bell stood in the shadows of Cole Custer and Tyler Reddick the last two seasons, Bell may have been the more impressive performer.  Despite the lack of championships, this Joe Gibbs Racing prodigy piled up 16 Xfinity Series victories over the last three seasons, with 15 of them coming in the last two years alone.  Were it not for Bell's tendency to disappear or come up short in big races, the championships may have been his had circumstances been a bit different.  Now Bell will take over the No. 95 Toyota that Matt DiBenedetto raced so well in 2019.  This Leavine Family Racing Toyota is an affiliate team with Joe Gibbs Racing, and gets the technical support of JGR as a benefit.  That showed up tremendously on the race track last season.  Bell will plug into this car and bring his Xfinity Series crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, with him.  The duo led over 2,000 laps and won eight races last season, so you know the chemistry is good.  Bell's pedigree is stellar, this up-and-coming team has great potential and the combination of the two could bear big things in 2020.  Bell has shot to upstage both Custer and Reddick if the breaks fall his way.

John Hunter Nemechek
Car: No. 38
Team: Front Row Motorsports
Manufacturer: Ford

December news brought us word that Nemechek will take over the No. 38 Ford of the just-retired David Ragan at Front Row Motorsports.  The 22-year-old prospect has spent the last seven seasons racing in the Gander Truck Series and the last two seasons grooming his skills in the Xfinity Series.  During that time, Nemechek has picked up seven-combined victories and 79 Top-10 finishes across those two racing series.  The big career highlight so far has to be Nemechek's lone Xfinity Series win which came at Kansas Speedway in 2018.  The young driver made three Cup Series starts late last season for Front Row Motorsports in relief of Matt Tifft.  Nemechek was impressive in those outings nabbing 21st-, 27th- and 23rd-place finishes under the guidance of crew chief Seth Barbour.  The two will continue to work together in 2020, but face an uphill battle in a very deep rookie field.  However, that experience of racing in NASCAR's top division to close out 2019 will serve Nemechek well when we fire up the engines at Daytona.

Brennan Poole
Car: No. 15
Team: Premium Motorsports
Manufacturer: Chevrolet

Poole's rookie campaign was a bit of a surprise announcement.  He didn't race full-time in 2019, and only managed 13 truck series starts with a small race team.  Poole was definitely not on the NASCAR Cup Series promotion radar screen.  None-the-less Premium Motorsports has tabbed Poole to pilot the team's No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro for this season.  This car was driven by a handful of different drivers last season, and under the guidance of crew chief, Pat Tryson.  The results were mixed due to the lack of continuity behind the wheel.  Ross Chastain managed the best finishes in his starts on the super speedways, netting a 10th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a 12th-place finish in the October Talladega event.  Poole will hope to bring some stability behind the wheel.  He's made some impressive performances in his lower NASCAR career, but it's clear that he's not a budding superstar like the three drivers at the top of this rookie class.  Combine that with this small race team's limitations, and Poole will have a challenging first season of racing at NASCAR's top level.