The Future is Coming!: A Who's Who of Nascar's Rising Stars

Since the modern era began (1972) successful Nascar rookies have come in waves. There tends to be an outburst of talented rookies followed by a relatively quiet period where very few make the big time. It almost has a generational aspect to it. Let's explore....

Now the modern era actually started on the ebbing process with 1973's Darrell Waltrip and 1977's Ricky Rudd being the only really prominent rookies. It wasn't until 1979 that we entered Generation 1 of the rookie phenomenon.

Generation 1 (1979-1987)

1979- Dale Earnhardt & Terry Labonte

1981- Tim Richmond

1982- Geoff Bodine

1983- Sterling Marlin

1984- Rusty Wallace

1985- Ken Schrader

1986- Alan Kulwicki

1987- Davey Allison & Dale Jarrett

In an 8 year span 5 Cup series champs (who won a combined 12 championships) were produced (almost 6 as Sterling Marlin just about had the 2002 championship locked up before a season ending neck injury). Over the next 5 years the most successful rookies to come into the series were Ernie Irvan, Jimmy Spencer, and Bobby Hamilton.

Generation 2 (1993-1994)

1993- Jeff Gordon & Bobby Labonte

1994- Jeff Burton, Jeremy Mayfield, & Ward Burton

Two more years and two more future Cup champs (5 championships and 144 wins combined). The fallout over the next 4 years wasn't nearly as dramatic as the gap between Generations 1 and 2 as we saw the entrance of Ricky Craven, Johnny Benson, Robby Gordon and Steve Park come into the series.

Generation 3 (1999-2006)

1999- Tony Stewart

2000- Matt Kenseth & Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2001- Kevin Harvick & Kurt Busch

2002- Ryan Newman & Jimmie Johnson

2003- Jamie McMurray & Greg Biffle

2004- Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, & Carl Edwards

2005- Kyle Busch

2006- Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, & Martin Truex Jr.

We have already seen 5 of those drivers win a total of 12 championships and 5 more drivers have finished 2nd in points.

2007 began the slow ebbing process. Even though all 5 rookies from that class have victories (Juan Pablo Montoya, David Ragan, Paul Menard, David Reutimann, & AJ Allmendinger) none of them have ever been championship caliber drivers. Regan Smith is the only race winner from the 2008 class, although Sam Hornish is looking to change that this year. 2009 gave us a spark with Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, but then entered...

The Dark Years (2010-2012)

2010- Kevin Conway & Terry Cook

2011- Andy Lally

2012- Stephen Leicht & Josh Wise

Who? I know Josh Wise, but that's about it.

Now I believe we are in the midst of the beginning of Generation 4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the defending Nationwide (Now Xfinity) Series champ, jumped into the Cup series in 2013 as well as Danica Patrick to start it. But last year was the true showing with Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon. So far we only have one confirmed rookie for 2015 in Trevor Bayne, but there are a lot of talented up and coming drivers that will be making there way into the Series soon. Let's get to know them.

(Listed in alphabetical order)

Ryan Blaney

Age: 21

Hometown: High Point, NC

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time Trucks for Brad Keselowski, Part-Time Nationwide for Team Penske, Part-Time Cup for Team Penske.

The son of Dave Blaney, Ryan notched a win, 12 top 5's, and 17 top 10's en route to finishing 2nd in points in the Truck Series last year. In 14 Nationwide races he picked up a win at Bristol, beating out Kyle Busch, as well as 10 top 5's and 13 top 10's. He finished 27th in his cup debut at Kansas, and led 15 laps in his 2nd race at Talladega before finishing 22nd.

2015 Plans: Part-Time Cup for The Wood Brothers, Part-Time Xfinity for Penske, Part-Time Trucks for Keselowski. He is hoping to pick up as many Cup races as possible this season.

Chris Buescher

Age: 22

Hometown: Prosper, TX

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time Nationwide for Roush Fenway Racing

Chris Buescher picked up his first win at Mid-Ohio and had 5 Top 5's and 14 Top 10's to finish 7th in points. He has 10 ARCA wins and won the ARCA championship in 2012 at the age of 19.

2015 Plans: Full-Time Xfinity for Roush Fenway Racing.

 Cole Custer

Age: 16

Hometown: Ladera Ranch, CA

2014 Ride(s): Part-Time K&N Pro Series for Bill McAnally, Part-Time Truck Series for Haas Racing Development.

Cole didn't race a whole lot in 2014, but in 10 K&N Races he picked up 2 wins and 4 top 5's. In 9 Truck races he nabbed 2 poles, 6 top 10's, 2 top 5's, and at New Hampshire became the youngest driver to ever win in a Nascar national touring series.

2015 Plans: More of the same running part-time Trucks for Haas. No word on whether he will continue to drive K&N or not.

Ty Dillon

Age: 22

Hometown: Lewisville, NC

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time Nationwide for RCR, Part-Time Cup for RCR, Part-Time Trucks for RCR and Bob Newberry

In Ty's first season in Nationwide competition he picked up a win at Indianapolis, 7 top 5's, 24 top 10's, 3 poles, and finished 5th in points, eerily similar to his first year in Trucks (1,7,17,3,4th). He showed a lot of improvement in his 2nd season in Trucks, so it's safe to assume we'll see some improvement in him this year. He made his Cup debut last year with a 25th at Atlanta and followed it up with a 27th at Phoenix and finished 5th and 7th in his two Truck races.

2015 Plans: Full-Time Xfinity for RCR, Part-Time Cup for RCR.

Chase Elliott

Age: 19

Hometown: Dawsonville, GA

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time Nationwide for JR Motorsports

Chase, son of former Cup champion Bill Elliott, was the breakout star of 2014. In his first season in Nationwide competition (he never even logged a lap in the series until the green flag dropped at Daytona) he won 3 races and picked up 16 top 5's and 26 top 10's. Not only did this performance win him the Rookie of the Year, but also the championship.

2015 Plans: Full-Time Xfinity for JR Motorsports, Part-Time Cup for Hendrick Motorsports

Brandon Jones

Age: 17

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time K&N Pro Series for Turner-Scott, Part-Time Trucks for Turner-Scott and Maury Gallagher, Part-Time ARCA for Turner-Scott

Brandon picked up his first Nascar win at Iowa in the K&N Pro Series combination event. He also had 5 top 5's and 11 top 10's to finish 4th in points in the East Series. He finished 4th and led 3 laps for Turner-Scott in the Dover Truck race. And in 3 ARCA starts he notched 2 wins and a 3rd.

2015 Plans: Part-Time Xfinity for RCR. No word on any other plans.

Erik Jones

Age: 18

Hometown: Byron, MI

2014 Ride(s): Part-Time Trucks for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Part-Time Nationwide for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Erik caught the eye of Kyle Busch by beating him in the 2012 Snowball Derby. Kyle then put him in his truck for 5 races in the 2013 season, in which he had a win, 2 top 5's, and 5 top 10's. He returned to run 12 races for KBM in 2014 picking up 3 wins, 5 top 5's, and 8 top 10's. He also ran 3 Nationwide races for JGR and finished top 10 in all 3.

2015 Plans: Full-Time Trucks for KBM. I'd imagine he'd continue to run some Xfinity races for JGR as well.

Ben Rhodes

Age: 17

Hometown: Louisville, KY

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time K&N Pro Series for Turner-Scott, Part-Time Truck Series for Turner-Scott.

Rhodes picked up his first career K&N win at Greenville, the 4th race of the year. After finishing 2nd in the next race, Ben went on to win 4 straight and easily won the East Series championship and Rookie of the Year with 5 wins, 11 top 5's, and 13 top 10's in 16 races. He also ran 4 Truck races with 3 top 10's and a best finish of 5th at Phoenix.

2015 Plans: Part-Time Xfinity for JR Motorsports. No word on any other plans.

Kenzie Ruston

Age: 23

Hometown: El Reno, OK

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time K&N Pro Series for Ben Kennedy Racing

After losing her ride with Turner-Scott after the 2013 season, teammate Ben Kennedy (Currently driving for Red Horse Racing in the Truck Series and great-grandson of Bill France Sr.) started his own team and pegged her to drive in 2014. She finished the 16 race season with 7 top 10's and 3 top 5's, including a 2nd place finish at the East/West combination event at Iowa that Brandon Jones won, which is the best finish by a female in any K&N race.

2015 Plans: Kenzie is searching for a ride after an impressive performance in the Drive for Diversity combine this offseason.

Daniel Suarez

Age: 22

Hometown: Monterrey, Mexico

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time Toyota Series (Mexico), Full-Time K&N Pro Series for Max Siegel, Part-Time Nationwide for JGR

Daniel started off 2014 with a bang by winning the first 2 K&N East races. Although, he continued to race in the East Series (mostly) full-time, his primary focus was on the Toyota Series in Mexico, which caused him to miss 3 of the last 4 K&N races. He won 3 of the first 4 races in the Toyota Series and 5 overall in the 15 race season. He also ran 2 Nationwide races finishing 19th and 15th.

2015 Plans: Full-Time Xfinity for JGR

Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr.

Age: 21

Hometown: Mobile, AL

2014 Ride(s): Full-Time Trucks for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Part-Time Nationwide for JGR

After an impressive 2013 season where he picked up his first career victory at Martinsville, Bubba had an even more impressive season notching 4 wins (Gateway, Eldora, Martinsville, and Homestead) 9 top 5's, and 14 top 10's en route to a 3rd place finish in points. In his two Nationwide races he finished 31st at Talladega and 7th at Daytona.

2015 Plans: Full-Time Xfinity for Roush Fenway Racing.

The future definitely looks bright with these young stars on the rise. Keep your eyes out for them as they come to a race track near you. Happy Racin' Y'all!