In the not-too-distant Sprint Cup past, the race for rookie of the year honors were barely contested. Drivers won the title with lackluster performances then essentially disappeared from the NASCAR scene.
In 2010, Kevin Conway won rookie of the year despite a 35th-place finish in the points standings. Andy Lally won the next year, and was 33rd. Stephen Leicht won in 2012 despite running only 15 races and a best finish of 26th in a season in which he started and parked in most of his appearances.
But last year, the competition for rookie honors began to gain some traction. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won rookie honors with a 19th-place points finish. His closest challenger was his girlfriend Danica Patrick, who was 27th.
This year, there are eight rookies in the Cup series, and two of them, Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon, are in top-flight cars. Larson drives the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. It’s the same car Juan Pablo Montoya drove last year. Dillon drives the No. 3 for Richard Childress Racing. The other rookies are Justin Allgaier, Alex Bowman, Michael Annett, Parker Kligerman, Cole Whitt and Ryan Truex.
Dillon started the season strong, winning the pole for the Daytona 500 and finishing ninth in the race. Larson got his best finish so far on Sunday at Bristol, where he held off Dillon to finish 10th. Dillon is 13th in the points standings, with Larson 22nd, and Dillon leads the rookie standings, while Larson is six points back in second place.
Larson said on this week’s NASCAR teleconference that he’s looking forward to battling Dillon for the rookie crown.
“Austin is the favorite, I would say, for winning that title,” Larson said. “I definitely pay attention to where he’s at on the speed charts or in the running order, wherever, during the race. …
“I think it’s fun. I had a lot of fun racing at the end of the Bristol race on Sunday. He was quite a bit faster than I was. I was driving as hard as I could, as hard as I did the whole race, to try to stay in front of him. We ran clean and hard.”
Larson said he considers Dillon the favorite because of his edge in experience in NASCAR-type race cars. Dillon has won rookie titles and championships in the Camping World Truck Series and in the Nationwide Series. He also has 17 Sprint Cup starts.
Larson, who has considerable experience in sprint cars, has run just 51 major NASCAR races, with one victory, in the truck series.
“I hope it’s a nice, tight battle to the end,” he said. “I think it would mean a lot if I could beat guys that have a lot more experience in stock cars.”
The Nationwide Series also has a strong rookie class this year. Ty Dillon, Austin’s younger brother, is tied with Chase Elliott for the top spot in the rookie of the year standings with Dylan Kwasniewski in third place, 14 points back.
Dillon is third in the series points standings, eight points behind leader Regan Smith. Elliott is fourth, five points behind Dillon.
Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano return to Auto Club Speedway this weekend where a year ago their simmering feud from Bristol the week before led to a last-lap crash that injured Hamlin's back and derailed his 2013 season.
Last week at Bristol, in interviews with the Associated Press, the two drivers expressed differing opinions about whether the year-old incident really is behind them.
“I feel like we’re fine,” Logano said. A year is a long time. It’s over now.”
Hamlin indicated he’s still harboring ill feelings.
“As far as my relationship with him, I treat him with respect on the race track, as I should,” Hamlin said, adding that he hasn’t talked to Logano about the incident. “How can you express how upset you are with someone without punching them?”
About the Author
