The next round of future stars in NASCAR Winston Cup

[Joe Fan]

Everyone should know by now that Casey Atwood driving for Ray Evernham will be the next young superstar in Winston Cup. However, here are a few more future stars to keep an eye on.

Jason Leffler-he may need another year in BGN but he definately has the talent to be a future star in Winston Cup. He has a sprint car background and performed reasonably well for a rookie in the Indy 500 considering the team that he drove for. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned back to open wheel racing if the right opportunity presented itself. I doubt that will happen so expect to see in Winston Cup in the near future.

Kevin Harvick-he has been impressive so far in the Busch Grand National series. He ran extremely well in his first race at Daytona as well as pressing two experienced road racers late in the race at Watkins Glen.

Kurt Busch-when Jack Roush hires young talent, that usually means something. Kurt won the NCTS race at Milwaukee in just his 14 career NCTS start. I would expect to see him climb up to the Busch series next year and possibly Winston Cup the year after that.

I expect to see at least two out of the three drivers enter NASCAR in 2002 and challenge for the rookie of the year honors.

[Heeltoe6]

Watch for Chad Chaffin, Michael Ritch, Ryan Newman, Scott Riggs and Kenny Martin in a few years.

[Neil C]

I cant even think of future stars without thinking of Adam Petty.

Damn

[Joe Fan]

Kurt Busch won his second race in a row at Loudon and rumor has it that he will be in Winston Cup next year driving Jack Roush's #97 car. Jack Roush said something to the effect that he has never seen a driver adapt to new tracks as fast as Kurt has.
[Edited by Joe Fan on 11th July 2000]

[Joe Fan]

Thought I would dig this up from the archives to stimulate some more discussion on future starts.

BTW, Busch is of course going to race in the 97 car next year for Jack Roush. Harvick and Leffler look to be racing in BGN full-time again next year.

So the Rookie of the Year candidates for 2001 will be:
Casey Atwood
Kurt Busch
Andy Houston
Ron Hornaday
Jeff Fuller

[Lee]

Is Fuller going to try again? Hasn't he run too many races to be considered elegible rookie of the year?

I don't think Leffler has what it takes, he hasn't impress me in the Busch series.

I don't think Busch is ready for Winston Cup. He needs a year or two in Busch first, also needs to learn that he is not driving in a demolition derby, or on the set of the movie "Days of Thunder!"

Harvic, Houston, Atwood, Chaffin and Hornaday will all be good!

Jury is still out on Ritch, Newman, not ready, big fish (Penske backing) in a little pond (ARCA) is IMO why he won this year, was not impressed with his Phoniex run!

Of course this is just my opinion, but I think this is the way it will shake out!

[Heeltoe6]

Chaffin's gonna be in the Rensi bgn car(25) next year; that'll be his first shot with some decent equipment.

Ritch was just released from his ride

As for Fuller, luckily(ok, so maybe unluckily) he only qualified for 7(or less) races so he is still eligible for ROTY next year.

Busch is gonna tear up a LOT of racecars but I think it's better than putting him in bgn, cars are too light/not enough hp. I would of kept him in cts for another year; let him keep the high hp but give him time to learnb patience. It's easy to do well when things are going your way but what happens when things turn up snake eyes; goitta learn how to deal with it. With no sponsor(yet) on the car, don't look for him to win roty.

That leaves Houston and Atwood. Houston, imho, is the superior driver and better prepared(again cts giving you better throttle control than bgn), but I don't know how well Wells(no pun intended) program will hold up. We saw at MIS that the chassis is there, but how bout engine reliability? Course Dodge is working out its own bugs as we speak in terms of engines, plus Evernham has said Atwood will get a lot of experimental stuff, so that might give Houston the advantage.

[phoenixfan]

I look for Dave Blaney to break away from this years rookie pack and come into his own over the next three to five years.