NASCAR: Rookie Of The Year Update (June 2016)
The NASCAR season is now a third of the way complete, and the 2016 rookie class continues to impress week in and week out. Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney are cementing their status as NASCAR’s young stars. Here is the May Rookie of the Year update.
Both of the top contenders for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors are currently inside the top-16 Chase standings without wins, clearly a fact that would have surprised just about anyone this far into the season. Elliott currently stands 8th in the standings, and has had the best car in the Hendrick stable in many races, and is even seeded higher than teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. (13th). Elliott’s fellow rookie contender Ryan Blaney is having a fine season himself, sitting 15th in the Chase standings, which is remarkable in that 2016 is his first full season and the first full campaign for the Wood Brothers in nearly a decade.
May was very kind to Chase Elliott and the No. 24 team. It started off with a pole at Talladega and a top-5 run, and he has not finished worse than ninth this month. He bested his career best finish at Dover with a 3rd place run and nearly stole the victory from Matt Kenseth. He hung around all night Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600 and ended up 8th, a great finish for his first 600-mile race, which just so happens to be where the former driver of the No. 24 got his first victory. He also nearly won the Sprint Showdown, and earned himself a spot in the Sprint All-Star Race with the fan vote. He sits 8th in the championship standings and looks to be a lock for the Chase and most likely a win as we head into the summer months.
Ryan Blaney has not been too shabby either in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Blaney finished in the top-10 in three of the four races in May including a season-best fifth at Kansas. The No. 21 team has shown more consistency of late, after having some up-and-down stretches over the first quarter of the season. The only race outside of the top-10 this month was in the Coca-Cola 600, which is no easy affair (20th). After this success in the month of May the No. 21 team has a 15th place points position, which is stellar for the team just returning to full-time, and it would be a welcomed sight to see the No. 21 in yellow colors when the Chase rolls around.
As for our other rookies, they have hit some struggles over the past month, highlighted by Chris Buescher’s wild tumble at Talladega. He did have a season-best 18th-place run at Dover, but the No. 34 team is not expected to finish much better than that. Brian Scott has struggled in May, finishing no better than 22nd at Dover, which was his best finish since a season-best 12th at Fontana. Jeffrey Earnhardt is simply trying to log laps and experience in his shortened 2016 campaign with Go FAS Racing.
Here are the current Rookie of the Year standings:
Driver Points
Chase Elliott 178
Ryan Blaney 146 (-32)
Brian Scott 116 (-62)
Chris Buescher 112 (-66)
Jeffrey Earnhardt 58 (-120)
Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott are certainly exceeding expectations through the first third of the 2016 season. Both have contended for race victories and are more often than not running in the top-10 week in and week out. Having both of these rookies in the 2016 Chase is unlikely, but what a story it would be. Yellow stripes would certainly fit with the yellow trim given to Chase contenders in the fall. Do not be surprised if even both of these drivers enter Victory Lane before the season. Elliott, the 20-year old phenom from Dawsonville currently holds the edge in the Rookie of the Year campaign, but these summer months are going to be a true test to his abilities to win the title, as the 22-year old Blaney will be racing him hard each week. A rookie class like this surely makes writing about the rookie contenders entertaining.