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. Debuting with this entry is the brand new PRETTY grade: Performance Relative to Equating Team’s Typical Year (its pretty much how well each driver is doing considering their equipment). Here’s how things look going into Phoenix:
1. Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing). Best race finish: 11th (California). PRETTY grade: A. Reddick’s shown some real speed despite racing for a team that, well, has seen better days. Here’s hoping my good review of the 8 team’s performance convinces them to run a Hut Stricklin Circuit City throwback car at Darlington.
2. Cole Custer (Stewart Haas Racing). Best race finish: 18th (California). PRETTY grade: B-. With stacked entry lists every weekend in Cup (…and RWR), a pair of top-twenties in your first two races is nothing to sneeze at. Not that I have anything against sneezing with MY allergies lately.
3. John Hunter Nemechek (Front Row Motorsports). Best race finish: 11th (Daytona). PRETTY grade: B. Buoyed by a near-top-ten at Daytona, JHN has been one of the most-sunrising rookies of the 2020 season, thus negating my usual bias against guys who always go by their full names.
4. Brennan Poole (Premium Motorsports). Best race finish: 16th (Daytona). PRETTY grade: A+. While it DID come in a wreck-fest superspeedway race, Poole’s 16th place finish was like a top-five for the small-budget Premium team. Learn more about it in my Team Finish Celebration Levels Conversion Chart, coming April 31st.
5. Christopher Bell (Leavine Family Racing). Best race finish: 21st (Daytona). PRETTY grade: D+. Its been a rough start to the year for the presumptive ROTY favorite. While the switch in manufacturers for LVR has to be taken into consideration, his performance pales in comparison to Matty D, likely convincing DiBennedetto’s fans that he should, oh, I dunno, get a lifetime contract with Joe Gibbs Racing and an automatic Hall of Fame induction?
6. Quin Houff (StarCom Racing). Best race finish: 32nd (Las Vegas). PRETTY grade: D. StarCom is far from a front-runner, but not even breaking into the top-30 is a bad look. And if there’s one thing team principal Derrike Cope is unfamiliar with, its looking bad.