NASCAR ROTY RANKINGS 2005: Ranking the Rookie of the Year Classes Through the Years

Kyle Busch

Join me as we take a look at every NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year class from 1972 (the start of the modern era) through 2021, going from the worst to the first in terms of overall careers of each year’s rookie class.

2005

Winner: Kyle Busch (Hendrick).  Runners Up: Travis Kvapil (Penske), Mike Garvey (ZeroFour/Peak), Stanton Barrett (Furniture Row).  Aborted Attempts: none

How their careers turned out: This is a VERY top-heavy class—Kyle Busch, love him or hate him, has had one of the greatest careers of the past two decades.  Travis Kvapil did little to nothing in Cup, while Mike Garvey did nothing to less in Cup.  On the plus side, Stanton Barrett got an awesome write up in Sports Illustrated.

“Fun” “Fact” about the winner: Kyle Busch wound up at Hendrick Motorsports after he was barred from racing Trucks under the age of 18 for Roush Racing.  Oh what could have been (well, he’d have left Roush anyways).

Ranking: #12 out of 50

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Does this track have lights?

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