NASCAR Cup Series: Way-too-early 2021 power rankings

Way-too-early 2021 NASCAR Power Rankings: #18 and #17

Speaking of Cole Custer, he comes in at #18 in these rankings. After securing a shocking first career victory at Kentucky Speedway to lock himself into the playoffs, Custer unsurprisingly finished in a playoff-worst 16th place in the championship standings, as he simply didn’t have the speed to contend regularly and would have finished in 20th in the standings on pure points. Aside from his victory and the five-race span of four top eight finishes during which he secured it, he had a fairly inconsistent rookie year with just three top 10 finishes and nothing higher than a ninth place result. Expect him to improve quite a bit in 2021, but don’t be surprised if he misses out on the playoffs should he fail to win a regular season race. Notably, Kentucky Speedway is no longer on the schedule.

Take away Cole Custer’s victory, and Tyler Reddick is the clear Rookie of the Year for 2020. The two-time Xfinity Series champion found himself in contention to win multiple races, something that not many expected considering his rookie status and the fact that he was competing for a team that had not won a race since 2018 entering the year. Finishes of second place at Texas Motor Speedway and fourth at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway as well as six other top 10 finishes have him well-positioned to win and reach the playoffs in year number two.