Rookie Report Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The newly repaved and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway was rough on several drivers throughout the field, from champions on down, but for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies, the track really had it out for them on Saturday night, as four of the five rookies would run into major trouble. The rookies were holding their own in the early going, but on lap 89, the first set of rookies would suffer Kentucky’s wrath. Ryan Blaney’s car got loose in Turn 3 on lap 89, makingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits the restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega, there is always a chance that a driver might get caught up in a crash that ends their night prematurely and for the 2016 Sprint Cup Series rookie class, that is exactly what happened in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. Throughout the first 89 laps of the race, three of the four rookies (Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Chris Buescher) had made their way through the field intoRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After an impressive start to the season for the 2016 rookie class, all eyes were on Sunday’s Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma as it served as the first road course race of the season and would be a tough test for the rookies to continue their streak of strong finishes. As it has for rookies throughout the years, Sonoma was the source of many struggles for the 2016 rookie class on Sunday, with none of the four rookies finishing inside the top-20. Coming outRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After leading a career-high 51 laps at Pocono last weekend en route to a fourth place finish, Chase Elliott came into Sunday’s race at Michigan looking to improve on that as he continued to be in the hunt for his first win. Elliott started the day in 10th and flexed his muscle early and often, working his way to the lead over Joey Logano on a restart at lap 117 and looked to be one of the cars to beat as the laps clicked off.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Pocono’s tricky layout is notorious for giving rookies in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series a hard time, but for the stellar rookie class of 2016, Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono was a walk in the park. In this week’s “Rookie Report”, we’ll recap just how well the rookies did at the “Tricky Triangle”. Chase Elliott has been the class of the rookie field for much of 2016 and his first career trip to Pocono was one of his best showings of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After rookie Alexander Rossi won the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day, all eyes were on the standout rookies of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to see if they could make it two rookie wins on the day. While none of the five rookies in the field were able to end the night in victory lane, NAPA Auto Parts, which sponsored Rossi in the Indianapolis 500 and also sponsors rookie Chase Elliott and his No. 24 Chevrolet wound up with the top rookie finish atRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer On a day that saw several of the contenders suffer issues throughout the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies saw the opportunity to pounce and came close to claiming victory, only to fall just short. Leading the way for the rookie class was Chase Elliott, who had his work cut out for him to start the day, but found himself hunting for the race lead and the win in the closing laps. Elliott started 13th after qualifying wasRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer On Saturday night in America’s Heartland, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies had their hands full with the treacherous 1.5 mile Kansas Speedway, but when the night ended, all four found themselves within the top-25, one of the best races overall for the rookies this season. Leading the way for the 2016 rookie class was Ryan Blaney, who started the night in seventh place and only found himself outside the top-10 once during a round of green flag pit stops during the middle of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Talladega always is a mayhem filled race, with rookies and veterans alike not immune to the carnage that could await any of them at any point in the race. On Sunday afternoon in the GEICO 500, two of the four rookies entered in the race would come away with top-10 finishes, while the others wouldn’t be as fortunate. Chase Elliott started on pole and showed that he would be a force to be reckoned with for much of the race, putting his No. 24 ChevroletRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer There must be something in the water in Virginia. Just like Martinsville three weeks ago, the five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies all struggled at some point in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond. With the spring Richmond race reverting to a day race for the first time since 1997, the bright sunshine beating down on the 0.75 mile short track created handling difficulties for all of those in the field, rookies and veterans alike. Falling a lap down early with an ill-handling car, ChaseRead More