The 2020 Sunoco Rookie of the Year class has started to prove not only do they belong in the NASCAR Cup Series, but they intend to contend.
Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick has been the most impressive rookie this season, but really showcased his skills on one of his favorite tracks last weekend – Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Californian, Reddick, posted his first top-five (fourth) of the season and ran amongst the leaders for the majority of the race; even leading his first three laps of his series career. Reddick leads the rookie standings by 70 points over second place John Hunter Nemechek. In 12 starts this year, he has put up one top five, three top 10s and an average finish of 17.0.
Riding in Reddick’s wake is driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, John Hunter Nemechek, currently second in the rookie standings 13 points up on third place Christopher Bell. In 12 starts this season, Nemechek has collected one top 10 and an average finish of 19.8.
“Front Row Motorsports has always had a strong program at Talladega,” said John Hunter Nemechek. “We started the season strong with a good run at Daytona, so hopefully we can have a repeat performance for an even better finish this weekend.”
All six rookies in the 2020 class will be making their series track debuts this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. At Daytona earlier this season John Hunter Nemechek had the highest finish of the rookies (11th); followed by Brennan Poole (16th), Christopher Bell (21st), Tyler Reddick (28th), Cole Custer (37th) and Quin Houff (39th).
| Sunoco Rookie of the Year Standings | ||
| Rookies | Points | Awards |
| Tyler Reddick | 279 | 7 |
| John H. Nemechek | 209 | 2 |
| Christopher Bell | 196 | 2 |
| Cole Custer | 181 | 1 |
| Brennan Poole | 91 | 0 |
| Quin Houff | 52 | 0 |
