Ranking the Top Young Guns to Watch in NASCAR
The next generation of NASCAR stars is already descending upon us.
Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. can't drive forever. And as they and others edge closer toward the completion of their driving careers, more seats will open up in the Sprint Cup Series for a bevy of younger, talented drivers.
These younger drivers are already waiting not so patiently in the wings for their shots at the big time and the spotlight that comes with competing for race wins and championships in NASCAR's top series.
Some young guns, such as Kyle Larson from Chip Ganassi Racing and Austin Dillon from Richard Childress Racing, already have logged valuable Sprint Cup experience. Others, such as 2014 Nationwide Series champion Chase Elliott, have a few more left turns to make in NASCAR's lower divisions before jumping to Sprint Cup full time.
To qualify for this list, drivers must be no more than 25 years of age by the start of the 2015 season next February. They are ranked according to a combination of potential plus results and experience shown thus far, and most of them appear destined for lasting future stardom, although the reality is that not all of them are likely to make it there.
10. Alex Bowman
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Never heard of Alex Bowman?
That's alright. He's hardly a household name, even in racing.
Bowman, 21, did have a full-time Sprint Cup ride last season, though, competing in all 36 races. He completed 9,878 laps without ever leading one and finished 35th in the points while driving for the No. 23 Toyota for underfunded BK Racing. In fact, he didn't register a single top-five or top-10 finish—with his best finish of 13th coming in last July's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.
So what is he doing on this list? Well, Bowman has a ringing endorsement from none other than Earnhardt Jr., winner of last year's Daytona 500. Earnhardt put Bowman in one of his JR Motorsports Chevrolets for two Nationwide Series races toward the end of the 2014 season—and Bowman was impressive enough in outings at Charlotte and Phoenix that Earnhardt singled the young driver out after the season.
"With Bowman running the way he did in Phoenix, man, that was great to see," Earnhardt said at a news conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I can't imagine what that did for his confidence. He's been out there (in the Sprint Cup Series) plugging away in that 23 car, grinding his guts out all year long trying to just stay in the sport somehow.
"And he was able to get in (the JR Motorsports) car and really show what he's capable of and how fast he can be ... Hopefully, the right person saw him that day, and if we can't help him, someone else can."
BK Racing co-owner Ron Devine told USA Today recently that it is working to re-sign Bowman for next season, with Devine adding: "We like Alex. We think Alex is a good shoe and has a good future in the sport."
9. Trevor Bayne
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It's been nearly four years since Trevor Bayne shocked the racing world by winning the 2011 Daytona 500 just after his 20th birthday.
He's been through a whole lot since then, including a mysterious illness later diagnosed as multiple sclerosis that sidelined him much of that 2011 season. The next season, he ran only six Nationwide Series and 16 Sprint Cup races.
It wasn't until 2013 that he returned to a full-time Nationwide ride for Roush Fenway Racing, and since then he's won only one of 66 starts at that level. Meanwhile, he has followed up his Daytona 500 win by failing to register another single top-five finish in 56 subsequent Cup starts.
So you might say this is a pivotal season coming up for Bayne, who will turn 24 three days before the running of the next Daytona 500. He's finally going to be in a full-time Cup ride for the first time in his career, essentially replacing Carl Edwards at RFR after Edwards left for a new ride at Joe Gibbs Racing.
If Bayne is ever going to prove that what happened in Daytona in 2011 wasn't a fluke, this is the time for him to start stepping up.
"This is something I've waited on since I was 5," Bayne told USA Today when it was announced he would drive the No. 6 car for RFR in Cup beginning next season.
8. Cole Custer
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Already armed with a great racing name, Cole Custer became the youngest winner of a NASCAR national-touring series race ever when he won a Camping World Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last September at the tender age of 16 years, seven months and 28 days.
Custer won't likely be a full-time driver in even the Truck Series next season, as his tentative plans are to gain more experience in the lower-level ARCA Series and NASCAR's K&N Pro Series.
But he's aligned for now with Haas Racing Development, an arm of Stewart-Haas Racing, and it's obvious that his future is bright. There is absolutely no need to rush him up the racing ladder.
After all, Custer barely had earned his real driver's license before he competed in his first career Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway last March.
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7. Ty Dillon
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Ty Dillon, 22, is the younger brother of Sprint Cup driver Austin Dillon.
Like Austin, Ty's ride is fielded by Richard Childress Racing—which is owned by their grandfather, Richard Childress. But also like Austin, Ty had to earn his way into a full-time seat in what was the Nationwide Series in 2014 and will become the Xfiinity Series beginning next season.
Ty earned three wins over 47 starts in the Camping World Truck Series before stepping up to Nationwide, where he totaled one win, three poles, seven top-five and 24 top-10 finishes in 33 races in 2014. He finished fifth in the final points, which wasn't bad for a rookie and is likely to continue improving in 2015 while driving full time in what will now be the Xfinity Series and also for a handful of Sprint Cup races.
Despite the fact that reigning Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick initially told Sporting News he was leaving RCR at the end of the 2013 season because the Dillon boys were "punk-ass kids" who had "no respect for what they do in this sport, and they've had everything fed to them with a spoon," Ty has displayed enough talent and resolve to be a future star.
6. Erik Jones
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Until Custer came along earlier this year, Erik Jones stood as the youngest winner ever of a NASCAR national-touring series race. He won a Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix toward the end of the 2013 season at the age of 17 years and four months.
Then he really got to work.
Jones registered three more Truck Series victories this season, despite running in only 12 events. He now has totaled four wins, two poles, seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in just 17 career Truck Series races. And he's still only 18 years old!
Sprint Cup driver Kyle Busch took note of Jones' talent and signed him to run a full-time schedule in a truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports next season, while Joe Gibbs Racing announced that it would put Jones in an Xfinity Series car on a part-time basis.
"Erik is more than ready to take the next step in his career and compete for a championship running full time in the Truck Series next year," Busch told Fox Sports.
5. Darrell Wallace Jr.
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Darrell Wallace Jr., better known in NASCAR circles as "Bubba," made history in 2013 when he became the first black driver to win a NASCAR national-touring series race in a half-century.
But after doing that by winning a Truck Series race at Martinsville, Wallace really took off in 2014—visiting Victory Lane four times en route to a third-place finish in the final Camping World Truck Series points standings.
Then it was announced by Kyle Busch Motorsports that Wallace would not be keeping his ride for next season, although it has been widely speculated that Wallace will end up driving part time or full time for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series (via Fox Sports). It will be a shame if he isn't given the opportunity for a full-time ride somewhere.
Wallace told Fox Sports of his impressive 2014 results: "It's getting people looking, and that's what we have to do. We have to get people knowing who I am."
4. Ryan Blaney
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Ryan Blaney, who will turn 21 this New Year's Eve, is the son of longtime NASCAR driver Dave Blaney.
But he's already showing signs that he's more talented than his old man, having led a total of 303 laps en route to two Nationwide Series wins over 17 races in the last two seasons. This year, he ran just 14 of the season's 33 races in that series, but he finished in the top five in 10 of them and inside the top 10 in all but one while winning on the short track at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Blaney also owns three career wins already in the Camping World Truck Series and finished second in the points standings this year while totaling one win, two poles, 12 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes in 22 races.
He will get his first extended taste of the Sprint Cup Series in 2015, driving the iconic No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing car in at least 12 events. The rest of Blaney's schedule is uncertain at this time, but he will also run at least some races in both the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series in addition to gaining valuable seat time at the Cup level.
3. Austin Dillon
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Austin Dillon and his grandfather brought the legendary No. 3 Chevrolet race car back to the Sprint Cup Series in 2014 for the first time since Dale Earnhardt died in it during a last-lap accident in the 2001 Daytona 500.
It wasn't the kind of return to Cup for the No. 3 that Dillon had envisioned.
Oh, he wasn't terrible. But he wasn't all that good in it, either. Overall, his season was a disappointment as the older of the two Dillon brothers, now 24, earned just one top-five and four top-10 finishes in 36 races and ended up 20th in the points.
Despite the disappointing rookie Cup season, it's way too early to give up on the elder Dillon. He spent two full seasons in the Camping World Truck Series and won the championship his second season, and then he backed that up by doing the same in the Nationwide Series before moving to Cup.
He needs to get better on the Cup circuit, and he knows it. He already has signed on next season to run more Xfinity Series races in addition to the full-time Cup schedule in an obvious effort to gain more experience.
2. Kyle Larson
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Kyle Larson, 22, turned heads first when it was announced prior to the 2014 season that Chip Ganassi Racing was moving him up to a full-time Sprint Cup ride.
Some, including this writer, openly wondered if he was ready.
Larson proved the doubters wrong quickly, finishing a strong second in his fifth race of the season at Fontana. He went on to finish second two more times and third twice in a memorable rookie campaign that included everything but an elusive victory.
Jeff Hammond, the Fox Sports NASCAR analyst and a former championship-winning crew chief, recently tabbed Larson as a driver to watch in the Cup Series in 2015. "I think the one driver I anticipate having a breakout season is Kyle Larson," Hammond wrote on FoxSports.com.
1. Chase Elliott
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Chase Elliott, 18, rocked the racing world when he won back-to-back Nationwide Series races at Texas and Darlington fairly early in the 2014 season.
That included his father, Bill, who also happens to be a former Cup champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer. The elder Elliott watched in amazement along with the rest of the NASCAR community as his son went on to win a total of three races in all and the Nationwide championship in a runaway.
Chase clinched the title to become the youngest NASCAR national touring series champion in history with one race to spare, before the season finale was even run at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Asked after his son clinched the championship if it was something he envisioned in 2014, Bill Elliott told Fox Sports: "Why, heck no. Why Lord God, no. I mean, in your wildest dream you wouldn't think so. To be able to just be consistently in the top 10 would be a stretch as far as I was concerned."
His son accomplished that, too, finishing inside the top 10 a remarkable 26 times in 33 races, including 26 inside the top five. Chase is slated to run a full-time Nationwide schedule for JR Motorsports again in 2015, while "probably" running a limited number of Cup races for Hendrick Motorsports, according to NASCAR.com.
You can count on him being a full-time driver in Cup by 2016 and competing for race wins and championships shortly thereafter.
Unless otherwise noted, all information was obtained firsthand.
Joe Menzer has written six books, including two about NASCAR, and now writes about it and other sports for Bleacher Report as well as covering NASCAR as a writer and editor for FoxSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.
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