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 today’s Kansas Playoff race:
1. Cole Custer (Stewart Haas Racing). Best race finish: 1st (Kentucky). PRETTY grade: B. Cole’s had an up-and-down run since the last rankings, posting a top-ten, top-twenty, and two sub-20th-place finishes. He’s guaranteed the best spot in the Cup points by virtue of his win and Playoff berth, but his top spot is THESE rankings could still be challenged…something that I’m sure keeps him up at night.
2. Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing). Best race finish: 2nd (Texas). PRETTY grade: B. RCR’s comeback year continues, as Tyler posted another top-five since the last ratings. Another one could push him past Cole Custer for the top spot—although no trophy will be issued due to, uh, COVID concerns…yeah, that’s it.
3. Christopher Bell (Leavine Family Racing). Best race finish: 4th (Pocono). PRETTY grade: C-. On the one hand, its been a rough stretch for C.Bell, with four sub-20th place finishes in a row. But on the other he’s gotta be feeling the way we all did about two weeks before graduating high school—Senioritis vs. Leavinitis?
4. John Hunter Nemechek (Front Row Motorsports). Best race finish: 8th (Talladega twice). PRETTY grade: C+. JHN continues his success on superspeedways with an 8th place finish at Talladega. I don’t know what the odds are of finishing in the same spot at the same plate track twice in the same year, but I’m guessing its the same as the chances of Kyle Busch growing a respectable goatee.
5. Brennan Poole (Premium Motorsports). Best race finish: 9th (Talladega). PRETTY grade: D+. Yeah, he posted his first top-ten of the season. But that came two weeks after he was taken out of the car. Such is the up and down life of a Nascar independent.
6. Quin Houff (StarCom Racing). Best race finish: 13th (Talladega). PRETTY grade: D+. Finally some improvement from the StarCom gang, who notched a thirteenth place finish at Talladega. But even with Brennan Poole missing a race, Quin’s STILL behind him in the points—and, thus, behind him in these rankings.