Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Brian Scott Photos – Getty Images

Rookie Rumble: Four Full-Time Drivers Prepare to Duke It Out

for Sunoco Rookie of the Year

The last Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate to win a race was Joey Logano in 2009.

Some of the members in this year’s rookie class – one of the most promising in recent history – looks like it can buck the recent losing trend:

Chase Elliott (20 years old, No. 24 Chevrolet) – The 2014 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion owns five NASCAR national series wins. An alumnus of the NASCAR Next program he finished runner-up in his sophomore XFINITY Series season. Elliott has made five career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts with a best start and finish of 16th at Richmond-1 last season. After winning the Coors Light ’21 Means 21’ Pole Award on Sunday, Elliott will lead the field to green in the Daytona 500.

Ryan Blaney (22 years old, No. 21 Ford) – Blaney has helped Team Penske’s No. 22 team win the last three NASCAR XFINITY Series owner’s championships. The NASCAR next alumnus has eight national series wins to his credit and finished runner-up in the 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings. Blaney has made 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts with a high finish of fourth at Talladega-1 last year.

Chris Buescher (23 years old, No. 34 Ford) – Buescher knocked off Elliott to win the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series title. The 2012 ARCA champion has three national series wins. He made six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts last season, posting a high finish of 20th at Auto Club.

Brian Scott (28 years old, No. 9 Ford) – Scott has registered five top-10 championship finishes the last five years in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. He boasts two national series wins and won the Coors Light Pole Award in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series spring race at Talladega in 2014. Scott has made 17 NSCS starts. His best finish was a 13th-place showing at Las Vegas in 2015.

Click here for an infographic on the full-time NSCS Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders