Pages

Spade Racing: THE ROOKIES—Preseason Rakings


New for 2020, Spade Racing will take a monthly look at the heralded Cup Series rookie class to determine who’s hot and who’s not.  First off: Preseason Rankings

1. Christopher Bell (Leavine Family Racing).  Pedigree: Truck Series Champion.  16 Xfinity Series Wins.  7 Truck Series Wins.  Three-time Chili Bowl Champion.  Tends to win whenever Kyle Busch isn’t racing.  Team Strength Grade: B-  Sponsorship Grade: A  Overall Outlook Grade: A-

2. Cole Custer (Stewart Haas Racing). Pedigree: Two-time Xfinity Series Points Runner-Up.  9 Xfinity Series Wins.  2 Truck Series Wins.  Second-most famous driver named “Cole” and second-most famous human named “Custer”.  Team Strength Grade: A  Sponsorship Grade: B  Overall Outlook Grade: B+

3. Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing).  Pedigree: Two-time (and defending) Xfinity Series Champion.  9 Xfinity Series Wins.  3 Truck Series Wins.  Already has a ninth-place Cup race finish and it wasn’t even due to a rainstorm!  Team Strength Grade: C+  Sponsorship Grade: B+  Overall Outlook Grade: B-

4. John Hunter Nemechek (Front Row Motorsports).  Pedigree: 1 Xfinity Series win.  6 Truck Series wins.  Son of Front Row Joe, running for Front Row Motorsports—that HAS to mean something, right?  Team Strength Grade: C-  Sponsorship Grade: C-  Overall Outlook Grade: C-

5. Brennan Poole (Premium Motorsports).  Pedigree: 6 ARCA Series wins.  37 Xfinity Series top-ten finishes.  Seems unusually adept at pissing people off.  Team Strength Grade: D-  Sponsorship Grade: C  Overall Outlook Grade: D

6. Quin Houff (StarCom Racing).  Pedigree: none really.  Unless you count “Seemed to come out of nowhere” and “Reminds people of Daria’s sister”.  Team Strength Grade: D  Sponsorship Grade: D-  Overall Outlook Grade: D-