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. The 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 Homestead:
1. Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing). Best race finish: 7th (Darlington). PRETTY grade: A-. Reddick continues to impress in mid-level equipment, and has surprisingly emerged as the rookie with a best shot to nab a non-fluke win. Now if he could just decide on a single sponsor…
2. Cole Custer (Stewart Haas Racing). Best race finish: 9th (Phoenix). PRETTY grade: C+. Since returning from the COVID-19 suspension of the season, Cole seems to be settling towards the middle of the pack. It remains to be seen if he’ll be successful like teammate Kevin Harvick or just whiny like Aric Almirola.
3. John Hunter Nemechek (Front Row Motorsports). Best race finish: 9th (Darlington). PRETTY grade: B+. Its been a pretty (no pun intended) surprising start to JHN’s rookie year. Despite running for a mid-level (at best) team, he’s posted four finishes in the top-15—even more impressive, only ONE of them was on a superspeedway!
^4. Christopher Bell (Leavine Family Racing). Best race finish: 9th (Charlotte & Bristol). PRETTY grade: C+. C.Bell has rebounded quite nicely after a rough start to the year, posting two top tens as part of four top-twenties since Nascar returned to the track. I guess its hard to judge a PRETTY grade since the 95 seems to be a brand-new team this year with the JGR-alliance—then again, JGR also provided engines to Milka Duno at one point.
v5. Brennan Poole (Premium Motorsports). Best race finish: 16th (Daytona). PRETTY grade: C+. Since his surprising run at Daytona Poole has been unable to crack the top-20, but let’s be real—if he’s still racing in the same car by the end of the season it’ll be a success story.
6. Quin Houff (StarCom Racing). Best race finish: 26th (Darlington). PRETTY grade: C-. No top-twenties yet for the mysterious Quin with one N. Then again, racing for StarCom means that “rolling chicane” might be the best he could hope for.