NASCAR Rookie Report: Week 1

2014 Season Rookie Report

By Richard Tix

Well the Rookies officially have one NASCAR Sprint Cup race under there belts. The Daytona 500 is over and past them (Review and Power Rankings). NASCAR Behind the Wall will give you a quick run down of how the Rookies handled the Daytona 500 with the big boys.

#3 Austin Dillon

Austin had the most successful trip to Daytona of all the Rookies. First Dillon took the Pole for the Daytona 500 and then he finished top 10 (9th). He did have some downfalls as he seemed to be a part of a lot of the wrecks on Sunday. He may not have been a cause, but its a fact he was always around which may not win him friends. Noting that, he did make it out of most of those and got his car into a good spot for a top 10 finish. Good start to 2014 for Austin.

#42 Kyle Larson

Larson wasnt as fortunate. He started 16th but on lap one had troubles and hit the wall. Later on in the race he was nudged by Dillon and got into a few other cars. Tough break for him in his first Cup race. 

#51 Justin Allgaier

During some pitting rotations Allgaier got to run out front and pick up some points. After leading 4 total laps Sunday he finished 27th, but overall he had a quality race. He had 31 laps in the top 15 and seemed to make some good passes. Here is some loop data from Daytona.

#26 Cole Whitt

Whitt had a pretty good run on Sunday. He ran 56 laps while in the top 15 and made some quality passes. Unfortunatly he was caught up like many in one of the many incidents. He finished 28th.

#30 Parker Kligerman

Kligerman also had a decent day at DIS. He finished the day 29th, one spot behind teammate Cole Whitt. Parker finished the day running 6 laps in the top 15 and making 9 quality passes. Loop data here.

#7 Michael Annett

Annett ran 11 laps in the top 15 while making 36 quality passes in that time. He didnt have a bad run but he finished 37th on Sunday. 

#23 Alex Bowman

Bowman actually finished 23rd on Sunday, but he was neither great or terrible. Many Rookies just fell into the pack and we didn't get to see much of them. In the next few weeks we should see more out of these guys at non pack racing tracks.

Take a look at the first Article on these Rookies while your at it!