Earlier than they have been in recent memory, the classes of Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders for NASCAR’s three national series have been set, for the time being.
In the Sprint Cup Series, two drivers have registered for the program, though neither is entered for the Daytona 500. Timmy Hill will attempt to win his second consecutive rookie of the year award for [#37 Ford] Rick Ware Racing after grabbing the Nationwide Series honor in 2011. At this point his competition is Josh Wise, who recently has dabbled in all three national series ‘ with 91 starts since 2007. Owner Larry Gunselman, who is fielding a car for superspeedway ace Mike Wallace at Daytona, had said over the winter he wanted to run Wise for rookie of the year, depending on sponsorship [but recently announced Ware and Gunselman’s team joined forces].
The Nationwide Series has five contenders, including Jason Bowles who’s driving for MacDonald Motorsports. The other four contenders are Joey Gase, 2011 Camping World Truck Series champion Austin Dillon, Cole Whitt and Johanna Long, who plans a partial schedule of about 20 races for ML Motorsports.
As has been the case for the past few years, the Truck Series rookie class is the largest, with 11 contenders, nine of whom are entered at Daytona. The list includes Dakoda Armstrong, Ross Chastain, Dusty Davis, 2011 ARCA Racing Series champion Ty Dillon (Austin’s brother), Cale Gale, Max Gresham, Paulie Harraka, Caleb Holman, John King, Bryan Silas and John Wes Townley, who is currently under suspension by RAB Racing after a DUI arrest earlier this month in Georgia. Holman is the other driver not entered at Daytona.(NASCAR.com)(2-22-2012)
