Welcome to 2022! That means it's time for the next installment of ScooterBob's Rising Stars of NASCAR. I've been putting together this list for the last 7 years with the criteria of drivers 25 years of age or younger who have not yet had a full-time Cup Series ride. Over those 7 years I have chosen 34 drivers, 14 of whom have had full-time Cup rides and 16 of them will be full-time this season. Those drivers have also gone on to win 29 Cup races and 1 Cup championship in that 7 year period.
The 10 drivers from last year's class ended up winning 13 Xfinity races, 4 Truck races, 11 ARCA races, 3 ARCA East/West races, the ARCA Championship, and the ARCA West championship. This year's class features 7 returning members (5 of whom were in last year's class) and 3 drivers making their debuts.
Let's get started
(Drivers listed in alphabetical order)
Austin Cindric
Age: 23
Hometown: Mooresville, NC
2021 Ride(s): Full-Time Xfinity Series for Team Penske; Part-Time Cup Series for Team Penske.
Rising Star Appearances: 2021, 2020 & 2018
Austin Cindric makes his 4th and final appearance on this list after another stellar year in the Xfinity Series. Coming off his 2020 championship, Austin was easily the favorite to win the championship again. He won the season opener in Daytona and led the points after all but 4 races in the 33 race season. Cindric won 5 times, with 22 Top 5's and 26 Top 10's. He also made his Cup Series debut in the Daytona 500, finishing 15th, and got his first career Top 10 with a 9th place finish in Indy.
Austin will move up in rank to pilot the #2 Ford for Team Penske full-time in the Cup Series next season.
Sheldon Creed
Age: 24
Hometown: Alpine, CA
2021 Ride(s): Full-Time Truck Series for GMS Racing; Part-Time Xfinity for B.J. McLeod
Rising Star Appearances: 2021 & 2019
Sheldon Creed makes his 3rd Rising Star appearance after yet another solid season. Like Cindric, expectations were high for Creed after winning the 2020 Truck Series championship. Sheldon had 3 wins, 9 top 5's, and 11 top 10's in 22 Truck races this year, but 4 DNF, including one in the playoffs, kept him out of the championship 4 and he wound up finishing 5th in the standings. He made one Xfinity start in 2021 for B.J. McLeod, finishing 10th in the season finale at Phoenix for his first career top 10 in the Series and just the 5th top 5 of the season for the team.
Sheldon Creed will move up the Xfinity Series full-time in 2022 driving the #2 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing.
Ty Gibbs (*Rising Star of the Year!*)
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Age: 19
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
2021 Ride(s): Full-time ARCA for Joe Gibbs Racing; Part-time Xfinity & ARCA East for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Rising Star Appearances: 2021 & 2020
For the first time in the 8 year history of this list, I am awarding a Rising Star of the year award. Nobody was more deserving of that in 2021 than Ty Gibbs. After finishing 2nd in the ARCA East Series in 2020, Ty moved up to the ARCA Series full-time where he won an astonishing 10 races with 19 top 5's in just 20 races, a feat that also won him the championship and Rookie of the Year. He won both ARCA East starts that he made as well. But all that aside, he was most impressive in the Xfinity Series. He made his debut at the Daytona Road Course in February and won. Despite only competing in 18 of the 33 events, Ty finished 13th in points with 4 wins, 9 top 5's, and 10 top 10's.
Although it hasn't been officially announced, multiple sources have reported that Ty will race full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series in 2022.
Noah Gragson
Age: 23
Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
2021 Ride(s): Full-Time Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports
Rising Star Appearances: 2021, 2017 & 2016
Noah Gragson makes his 4th Rising Star appearance after what was no doubt his most successful racing season yet. The year started off with heartbreak. Noah had been hired by Beard Motorsports to attempt the Daytona 500 for his Cup Series debut, but just 2 weeks before the race, team owner Mark Beard passed away. To pour salt in the wound, Noah failed to qualify for the race. The rocky start continued for Gragson, finishing 28th or worse in 4 of the first 5 races with 3 DNF's. Just when it looked like the team was turning the corner, they had 3 consecutive DNF's at COTA, Charlotte, & Mid-Ohio, making it 6 DNF's in the first 13 races. Things finally started coming together when Noah got his first win of the year at Darlington. He backed it up by winning the very next race at Richmond and then again in the penultimate race at Martinsville to clinch his spot in the Championship 4. In the end, the team rattled off 15 top 10's in the final 20 races for Noah to get a career best 3rd place points finish.
Noah will return to JR Motorsports for a 4th full-time Xfinity season, but he will also attempt the Daytona 500 again for Beard Motorsports and will also compete in 14 Cup races for Kaulig Racing in 2022.
Taylor Gray
Age: 16
Hometown: Denver, NC
2021 Ride(s): Part-Time Trucks, ARCA, ARCA East, & ARCA West for David Gilliland Racing.
Rising Star Appearances: Debut
Taylor Gray is making his first Rising Star appearance. Gray comes from a drag racing background and his following his older brother's (Tanner) footsteps in making the jump to NASCAR. His season started off with a bang with a thrilling 3-wide finish in the ARCA East opener in New Smyrna, where he finished 3rd. He was slated to make his Truck Series debut at Richmond in April, but he was involved in a street car accident the week prior to the race, suffering fractures in his back and foot. The accident left him sidelined for 3 months. He wound up making his Truck debut at Watkins Glen in August and would get his first top 10 with an 8th place finish at Martinsville in October. He ended up with 8 top 5's and 10 top 10's in 11 ARCA starts and in September he won back to back ARCA West races at Portland and the Las Vegas Bullring.
Taylor will continue driving for David Gilliland Racing in 2022, competing full-time in the ARCA East Series and part-time in both the ARCA and Truck Series'.
Corey Heim
Age: 19
Hometown: Marietta, GA
2021 Ride(s): Full-Time ARCA for Venturini Motorsports; Part-Time Trucks for Kyle Busch Motorsports; Part-Time ARCA East & ARCA West for Venturini Motorsports
Rising Star Appearances: Debut
Corey Heim was the breakout star in the 2021 ARCA Series. After getting his first career win in the 2020 ARCA season finale at Kansas (in only his 3rd start of the season), Heim landed a full-time ride with Venturini Motorsports for 2021 and was Ty Gibbs's main rival. In the 20 race season he accumulated 6 wins, 16 top 5's, and never finished worse than 7th. He and Gibbs came to blows several times throughout the year, but Corey fell just 37 points shy of the title at the end of the year. Corey also made his Truck Series debut in May for Kyle Busch Motorsports at Darlington, where he led 2 laps and finished 23rd after a multi-truck accident with just 17 laps to go. He made just 3 Truck starts, capping off the season with a career best 11th place run at Martinsville.
Corey will return to Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022 for a 15 race Truck Series schedule.
Jesse Love
Age: 16
Hometown: Menlo Park, CA
2021 Ride(s): Full-Time ARCA West for Bill McAnally Racing; Part-Time ARCA for Bill McAnally Racing & Venturini Motorsports
Rising Star Appearances: 2021
Jesse Love returns to this list for the 2nd consecutive year. The defending West Series champ got off to a slow start, but then rattled off 4 straight top 3 runs, including 2 victories, which helped him secure the championship for the 2nd straight year. He also ran half the ARCA season, mostly for Venturini Motorsports, where he finished every race in the top 10 and closed out the year with his first career win at Salem.
Jesse's 2022 plans have not yet been announced, but it will likely include more ARCA races with Venturini Motorsports.
Ben Rhodes
Age: 24
Hometown: Louisville, KY
2021 Ride(s): Full-Time Trucks for Thorsport; Part-Time Cup for Spire Motorsports
Rising Star Appearances: 2015
What a rollercoaster of a career Ben Rhodes has had. Ben was a member of my inaugural Rising Stars list after he dominated the K&N East Series in 2014. That landed him a part-time Xfinity ride for JR Motorsports in 2015, but with just 2 top 10's, 3 DNF's, and an average finish of 21st, he lost out on that ride and hasn't made it back to that level since. He snagged a full-time Truck ride with Thorsport in 2016 and that has been his home for the last 6 years. In 2017 he got his first career win at Las Vegas and it looked promising that he might get back on the right track to move up the ladder again after a 5th place points finish. But in 2018 he showed minimal improvement, picking up another win, but finishing 8th in points. Over the next two years he would only win race and would finish 9th & 7th in points respectively. Needless to say, this seemed like a make or break year for Rhodes and his career progression. He started off the season with a bang, winning the season opener at Daytona. He followed that up by winning again the following week on the Daytona Road Course. He remained consistant after that, picking up top 10 after top 10, holding on to 2nd in points throughout the regular season. That consistency qualified him for the Championship 4, where Rhodes held off his competitors to win his first Truck Series championship. Rhodes finished off the year with 2 wins, 8 top 5's, and a career high 16 top 10's.
Ben will return to Thorsport for a 7th season in 2022.
Chandler Smith
Age: 19
Hometown: Talking Rock, GA
2021 Ride(s): Full-Time Trucks for Kyle Busch Motorsports; Part-Time ARCA for Venturini Motorsports
Rising Star Appearances: 2020
Chandler Smith makes his 2nd Rising Star appearance after missing out on last year's list. Smith broke out in the ARCA Series in 2019, winning in 5 of his 11 starts. That landed him a part-time ride with KBM in 2020, where he grabbed 5 top 5's in 12 starts to go along with his 2 ARCA wins. In 2021, Chandler finally got his first full-time ride in NASCAR competition with KBM. It was an up and down year with Smith finishing 9th in the season opener and then averaging a 25th place finish over the next 4 races. In September, he finally broke through to grab his first Truck Series victory at Bristol. He then went on to win again in the season finale at Phoenix. Chandler still has some growing to do. While he did make the playoffs, finishing 8th in points, he only had 6 top 5's and 9 top 10's on the season, never finishing more than 2 consecutive races in the top 10.
Chandler Smith will return to Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022 to once again race the full season.
Sammy Smith
Age: 17
Hometown: Johnston, IA
2021 Ride(s): Full-Time ARCA East for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Rising Star Appearances: Debut
Sammy Smith was another breakout star in 2021, but was often overshadowed by his teammate, Ty Gibbs. Sammy jumped into Ty's former ARCA East seat for the full season, but would have to change numbers when racing against Ty, so Gibbs could have the famous #18. Despite the constant number changes, Sammy proved he earned the ride. After finishing 2nd in his Series debut at New Smyrna, he went on to win the next 2 races at Pensacola and Nashville. In the 8 race season, Smith would win 3 races with 7 top 5's and a worst finish of 18th to clinch both the Rookie of the Year and the championship.
While nothing has been officially announced, MAVTV has reported that Smith will take over the JGR ARCA entry full-time in 2022 after he turns 18 in June. He will likely share the ride until then.
Honorable Mentions:
Todd Gilliland
Justin Haley
Zane Smith
Christian Eckes
Looking forward to another exciting racing season. We'll see ya in February. Happy Racin' Y'all!
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