19 minute read
The Future Stars of NASCAR
THE FUTURES
They’re the talk of the town if you reside in NASCAR Country. As America’s
most-watched form of motorsports ushers in a new era of young stars, a collection of hot-shoes with unlimited potential are rising up NASCAR’s ladder.
These are The Futures: Ten drivers who fans will hear from on a regular basis throughout this season. Some, like Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer, are second-year NASCAR Cup Series drivers with plenty of promise. Others are recent ARCA Menards Series or Camping World Truck Series call-ups who haven’t yet reached the sport’s summit. With apologies to William Byron, The Futures list captures drivers with one or fewer years of accrued
Cup Series experience, so some of the sport’s popular 20-somethings didn’t make the cut. From “Dirt Princess” to the son of “The Mayor,” however, there are plenty of personalities in this assortment of pedal-mashing prodigies.
-BY AARON BURNS
CHRISTOPHER BELL
OWNER JOE GIBBS TEAM JOE GIBBS RACING MANUFACTURER TOYOTA CREW CHIEF ADAM STEVENS
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Christopher Bell is the real deal.
From sprint cars and midgets to asphalt late models, trucks and stock cars, there’s nothing the 26-year-old wheelman can’t drive.
Bell debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series last season with Leavine Family Racing, piloting the team’s No. 95 Toyota Camry to a 20th-place finish in points on the strength of seven top-10 finishes. It marked the 10-year-old team’s best result in the standings, but the results didn’t match Bell’s aspirations.
“For the most part, we weren’t as competitive as we wanted to be,” Bell said. “We had some days, like at Texas (in October, where Bell finished third), where we were really competitive and we had a shot at winning the race, but those days were few and far between.”
He won’t have to worry about infrequent successes anymore.
Bell excels when he’s given competitive equipment—and this year, he’s driving Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 car, a machine previously piloted by Cup Series champions Tony Stewart and Joey Logano.
Bell earned the job on merit and quickly proved to be worthy of the appointment by going to Victory Lane in the season’s second race, held on the Daytona International Speedway road course. Driving his Rheem-sponsored Toyota, Bell sped past Logano for the lead with two laps remaining and pulled away to a 2.12-second win on the challenging 3.61-mile course.
A longtime member of Toyota Racing’s driver development program, Bell’s sterling résumé includes a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in 2017 and 16 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins in only 74 starts.
There are plenty of reasons to believe Bell will add to the No. 20 car’s legacy in short order. For one, the Norman, Oklahoma, native will spend his second season at NASCAR’s highest level with a two-time Cup Series champion calling the shots from pit road.
Adam Stevens claimed Cup Series titles with Kyle Busch in 2015 and ’19 before Gibbs shuffled Stevens and most of the No. 18 car’s engineers to Bell’s No. 20 operation.
“Ever since (Joe Gibbs Racing) said I was essentially getting the No. 18 guys for 2021, I’ve been very thankful to get such a proven group,” Bell said. “It’s in my hands now. The whole team has proven themselves to be a championship-caliber team.
“I’ve been focusing hard in just being around the new No. 20 group and I’ve spent a lot of time with Adam, just trying to build that relationship with him. It’s been good so far. I feel like we have a ways to go, but once you’re in the thick of racing, it becomes much easier. The offseason has just been us hanging out and being around each other. Hopefully, we can start off on the same page when we get to racing. I was sad to leave Jason (Ratcliff, Bell’s former crew chief), but I’m thrilled for the opportunity to get put in a winning situation and get to prove myself.”
A jump from a mid-pack team to one of NASCAR’s elite operations won’t be much of an adjustment for Bell. He raced for JGR on a full-time basis in the Xfinity Series from 2018-’19, so he’s not going to get lost on the way to work.
Stevens, however, might be in for a culture change.
“Adam’s entire Cup Series career has been with Kyle (Busch) and just from the outside looking in, Adam seems like a fiery person – which you have to be to work with Kyle Busch,” Bell said. “I told Adam, ‘I can promise you; I’m going to be a change of pace from Kyle. You’re not going to hear me voicing my opinion in the car the way Kyle does.’
“Kyle’s more of a leader at this point than I am. I’m not going to be as outspoken as he is in the car. I’m more of a soft-spoken guy in general.”
Bell lets his driving do the talking. This year, it will speak volumes about his skill.
“It’s a high-pressure environment,” Bell said of his new workplace. “If you look at 2020 as a whole, it was definitely a down year for JGR compared to 2019, which was a really good year. I don’t expect 2021 to be like 2020. I think Joe Gibbs Racing is a powerhouse team and they’re focused on getting back to where they were in 2019.
“Ultimately, if we just keep putting ourselves in position, we’re fast enough, we have a good enough pit crew and we don’t make mistakes, that’s all you can ask for, whether we win one time or we win eight times.”
Given Bell’s present situation, it’s only a matter of time before he’s regularly atop the scoring pylon.
“Expectations are high,” Bell said. “We need to win.”
Look for it to happen early and often.
PLEASE PASS THE CHILI
IN 2019, Christopher Bell secured his third victory in the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals, a prominent indoor midget car race in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bell did it in style, too – winning the race in three consecutive years. Only Kevin Swindell – who won four straight from 2010-’13 – topped Bell’s magical run from 2017-’19. It’s a big deal in the racing world. “For me, the Chili Bowl is bigger than the Daytona 500,” Kyle Larson said in 2018.
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HAILIE DEEGAN
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OWNER DAVID GILLILAND TEAM DAVID GILLILAND RACING CREW CHIEF MIKE HILLMAN JR. MANUFACTURER FORD
COLE CUSTER’S NO stranger to the “young gun” label.
The 23-year-old cut his teeth racing quarter midgets, where he enjoyed considerable success after starting out when he was just 4 years old. In 2011, Custer won the USAC National Focus Young Guns Championship. A year later, he moved to late model racing and by the end of 2014 – as a 16-yearold – he’d already won his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
Talk about a fast learner.
Cole Custer is the NASCAR Cup Series’
reigning rookie of the year. He’s already got one Cup Series victory under his belt, he’s driving for one of NASCAR’s most accomplished teams and he’s got as bright a future as anyone in the sport.
Think of 2021 as Custer’s first stand – expectations will be higher with Custer having a year of Cup Series experience, but there’s plenty of reason to believe the results will top last year’s effort of one win and seven top-10 finishes.
“Not having practice, not having testing and not having qualifying definitely meant it wasn’t easier to be a rookie (last season),” Custer said. “From our standpoint, to have a race win and to make the playoffs, I think we can call that a success. Did we want to run better a lot of the time? Yeah, for sure, but we made huge strides in making more consistent runs. I think it’s just a matter of taking it to the next level and consistently making it to the next group of cars.”
Armed with tremendous equipment and more confidence than ever, Custer has the potential to deliver multiple wins this season. It doesn’t hurt that the second-year Custer and rookie teammate Chase Briscoe have Kevin Harvick – who won nine races last year – in the same shop.
“For me to get to learn more, I think it’s going to be huge,” Custer said. “Having more time and another year to run through all the races will definitely help out.”
SUMMER RUBBIN’
NICKNAMED “DIRT Princess,” there was reason to believe Hailie Deegan had the goods to succeed on dirt for as long as she wanted. Once Deegan tried Legend Car racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Summer Shootout in June of 2016, however, asphalt became the new target. “I learned a lot racing in the Summer Shootout, just as far as car control and how to race beside people,” Deegan said. “It’s definitely different than racing on dirt.”
The daughter of freestyle motocross
legend Brian Deegan, Hailie Deegan began her racing career on dirt – but it’s her skill on pavement that makes the 19-year-old one of NASCAR’s can’t-miss prospects.
The Temecula, California, native spent last year competing full time in the ARCA Menards Series, where she posted four top-five finishes and 17 top-10 results en route to a third-place finish in points. Deegan also debuted in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last October at Kansas Speedway, finishing 16th in a No. 17 Ford owned by David Gilliland.
Deegan reprises her role in Gilliland’s truck on a full-time basis this season.
Her skill behind the wheel – developed after years of Trophy Truck races on dirt – gives Deegan a great chance to add to DGR’s victory tally before the year is over.
The team enters this season with one win, a 2019 triumph at Kentucky Speedway with Tyler Ankrum at the controls.
With another young star in his stable, Gilliland is sure to help amplify Deegan’s potential.
“I’ve enjoyed watching Hailie progress in the ARCA Menards Series and prepare for the next step in her racing career, moving up to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,” Gilliland said last fall. “I’m happy DGR can be part of her learning process as she transitions to the next level of competition.”
Deegan’s dynamic personality won her a legion of fans before she’d even left high school.
If she can compete for wins at NASCAR’s third-highest level, it’ll boost her popularity to new heights.
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WHILE NO DRIVER IN NASCAR’s modern era won in their debut Cup Series race, Jamie McMurray in 2002 and Trevor Bayne in 2011 triumphed in their second starts. Chase Briscoe’s first Cup Series start was the Daytona 500. Stewart-Haas Racing won 10 races last year, so Briscoe has a great car at his disposal to help him acclimate to the Cup Series. Whether it’s at Daytona or another track, he’ll take full advantage of it.
Chase Briscoe’s nine NASCAR Xfinity
Series victories last year weren’t enough to claim the series title, but the Indiana native’s consolation prize was stellar nonetheless.
Briscoe fills the void left by Clint Bowyer in Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 14 Ford entry in the NASCAR Cup Series. It’s the realization of a dream for Briscoe, who, like Stewart, comes from a sprint car racing background.
At 13, Briscoe became the youngest driver to ever win a 410 sprint car race, topping NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon by a year.
While Briscoe is by no means the youngest Cup Series newcomer, he’s still only 26 years old and preparing to reach the zenith of NASCAR competition with a championship-winning team.
It’s a far cry from where Briscoe was in 2014, when he moved to North Carolina in hopes of securing any opportunity in the sport.
“When I moved to North Carolina, the first shop I volunteered at was Brian and Bob Keselowski’s,” Briscoe said late last year. “I still talk to Brad (Keselowski, Briscoe’s 2017 team owner in the Truck Series), especially if I’m going to a race track where I might feel like I’d struggle. I don’t talk to him as much as (Kevin) Harvick or someone in my organization, but I’ll reach out to him. He told me last year that the Xfinity Series was wide open and for me to go and take it.”
Briscoe no longer needs to be told to take a series by storm.
Now, he’s got experience in it.
SHELDON CREED
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OWNER MAURY GALLAGHER TEAM GMS RACING CREW CHIEF JEFF STANKIEWICZ MANUFACTURER CHEVROLET YOUNG SHELDON
FOR A COLLEGEaged driver, Sheldon Creed has already competed in and won races across many divisions on dirt and asphalt.
Upon claiming his first Camping World Truck Series crown, he likened his experiences to being a student.
“It’s like we’re in college right now and you’re in class every day (at the track),” Creed said.
“I’m racing against my teammates for rides and they’re all incredibly talented. You’re racing everybody for that next chance in Cup.”
One of Chevrolet’s top development
drivers, Sheldon Creed offers GMS Racing a phenomenal mixture of natural skill and versatility.
The man known as “The Showstopper” put on a dazzling display of dominance in last year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs, winning two of the season’s final three races and roaring to his first series championship in his second year of fulltime competition.
Championships are not a new concept to Creed. The Californian claimed the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series’ Pro Lite Unlimited crown in 2014 and the Stadium Super Trucks titles in 2015 and ’16. A move to stock cars brought – what else? – the ARCA Menards Series championship in 2018. Oh, and he’s a two-time X Games gold medalist.
Suffice it to say, Creed has more than justified Chevrolet’s investment in a driver who won’t even turn 24 until Sept. 30. He’s back in the Camping World Truck Series this year, seeking to become the first driver since Matt Crafton in 2014 to claim backto-back series titles.
Creed’s growth as a driver has coincided with improvement from those who work with him.
“GMS Racing has so many tools and resources and I feel like Chevy’s (Truck Series program) is always getting better,” Creed said. “I can only go as fast as I can with the truck that I have, and our trucks have been incredibly fast.
“What you’re driving matters a lot in how you run.”
Talent doesn’t hurt, though – and Creed has plenty to offer.
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OWNER RICHARD CHILDRESS TEAM RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING CREW CHIEF RANDALL BURNETT MANUFACTURER CHEVROLET
HARRISON BURTON
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OWNER JOE GIBBS TEAM JOE GIBBS RACING CREW CHIEF JASON RATCLIFF MANUFACTURER TOYOTA
TYLER REDDICK WON more than the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship when he crossed the finish line at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 16, 2019. The spoils of victory included naming the son Reddick and his girlfriend, Alexa De Leon, were having. De Leon wanted his name to be “Ryker,” but Reddick was set on “Beau.” The two agreed that if Reddick won the title, “Beau” was the name – so, naturally, Reddick yelled out “Baby Beau!” once the championship was his.
Anative of Corning, California, Tyler
Reddick’s path to the NASCAR Cup Series was forged on dirt – the same surface which brought champions like Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart to the sport’s highest level.
Reddick moved to pavement after becoming the youngest pole winner for Eldora Speedway’s World 100 dirt late model race, the youngest winning driver in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the youngest driver to qualify for a World of Outlaws Late Model Series feature.
The second-year Cup Series pilot has more than enough talent to enjoy a long career on asphalt, as his back-to-back NASCAR Xfinity Series championships attest. The 2018 and ’19 champion jumped to the Cup Series last year with Richard Childress Racing, the same team that turned Xfinity Series champion Kevin Harvick into a week-in, week-out Cup Series contender in the early 2000s.
Reddick didn’t quite post Harvick-like numbers, but a nearwin at Texas Motor Speedway coupled with a stage win and three top-five finishes showed his potential. Another season with Childress should go a long way in determining how stage 1 of Reddick’s Cup Series career will unfold.
“I’m proud of the effort everyone on the No. 8 team put in for my rookie season,” Reddick said. “We had highs and lows, like any race team, but ultimately put together a strong year and laid some good groundwork to build on.”
Reddick’s challenge this year is to improve his best finish by one spot – and watch his stock rise even higher.
ARCA BREAKS
HARRISON BURTON was only 11 years old when he captured his first pole in a late model car at North Carolina’s Ace Speedway. A year later, he had two late model wins under his belt and, by 15, Burton broke into the ARCA Menards Series East. Proving the spotlight was never too bright, Burton won the series championship in 2017 – besting Todd Gilliland by a scant eight points thanks to a win in the season finale.
Harrison Burton has all the tools to be a
NASCAR Cup Series superstar in the near future.
He’s got the right pedigree – father, Jeff, and uncle, Ward, won 26 Cup Series races – and he’s with the right team: Joe Gibbs Racing, winners of five Cup Series championships.
Burton’s no slouch behind the wheel, either. The secondgeneration driver bagged four wins over the course of last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season, rising to the occasion with two victories in the playoffs on his way to rookie-of-the-year honors.
While an eighth-place finish in points didn’t accurately portray the gains that Burton made as a driver, it’s overwhelmingly likely that the 20-year-old from Huntersville, North Carolina, will finish much better this season.
Gibbs’ Xfinity Series cars are arguably the most desired in the series, because they come equipped with the necessary resources to regularly visit Victory Lane.
With a year under his belt, there’s some pressure on Burton to maximize his potential this year.
If his recent exploits are any indication, Burton will be a Championship 4 contender and a solid pick to claim the series title – something his father and uncle never accomplished in their impressive careers.
Burton also gets to enjoy the benefits of staying with the same team.
“Harrison’s never really had two or three years to sit back and spend two or three years doing something,” Jeff Burton said last season. “I think it’s made him appreciate opportunities and it’s put him in situations where he’s had to learn.”
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OWNER ROGER PENSKE TEAM TEAM PENSKE CREW CHIEF BRIAN WILSON MANUFACTURER FORD
SAM MAYER
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OWNERS DALE EARNHARDT JR., KELLEY EARNHARDT MILLER AND RICK HENDRICK TEAM JR MOTORSPORTS CREW CHIEF TAYLOR MOYER MANUFACTURER CHEVROLET
AUSTIN CINDRIC isn’t joking when he says he’s driven a lot of race cars.
Legend Cars, U.S. F2000 openwheel cars, Global Rallycross Championship cars and IMSA sports cars are a sampling of the machinery Cindric has mastered since his racing career began.
Cindric can already boast of having raced in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Bathurst 12-Hour endurance race in Australia.
So, forgive him if the Daytona 500 makes him feel like he’s taking a halfday at work.
Austin Cindric figures to have an event-
ful 2021 season.
Winning races and championships tend to shorten a driver’s off days, but the 22-year-old Columbus, Ohio, native doesn’t mind one bit.
Cindric romped to the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship last season aboard Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford, which pulled into Victory Lane on six occasions, including five in a six-race span.
Cindric’s reward is another season in NASCAR’s second-highest series and a limited slate of races with Penske’s NASCAR Cup Series team.
Poised to join Wood Brothers Racing’s Cup Series team in 2022, Cindric’s year in waiting should include plenty of Xfinity Series trophies and a crash course – hopefully, not literally – in Cup Series competition.
For his part, Cindric can’t seem to believe his good fortune.
The accomplished road racer has burst on NASCAR’s scene in recent years, ascending to the Xfinity Series title and showcasing an innate ability to match aggression with patience.
“I’ve driven a lot of cars at a lot of different race tracks. I’ve been exposed to a lot and it’s taught me a lot,” Cindric said. “I feel like that perspective has helped me look at things clearly and I usually don’t make the same mistakes twice because of that.
“With this not being a data-driven sport, I think that puts a lot of (pressure) on me and what I can do to help the team develop our cars. I feel like I’ve learned the right things to have a good foundation for that.”
PREPPED AND READY
SAM MAYER WAS made for the moment.
Before a 2019 ARCA Menards Series East race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Mayer walked through the infield with a handful of hero cards and Sharpies as fans approached him for autographs.
“You’ve got to be prepared,” Mayer told an acquaintance as he switched from black to silver Sharpie.
Mayer had everything under control.
He signed every autograph, won the pole, led all 150 laps and won the race.
It’s not easy to drive a race car at speed
against competitors who will stop at nothing to win. Sam Mayer simply makes it look easy.
The son of road racing expert Scott Mayer, Sam Mayer – at the ripe, old age of 17 – has a résumé few can match and many can envy.
Mayer won his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race last year in only his seventh start. He claimed the 2019 and ’20 ARCA Menards Series East championships. At 14, Mayer won the Young Lions division of Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Summer Shootout in 2017, his first year in a Legend Car – oh, and a month later, Mayer won a Midwest Truck Series race at Wisconsin’s Dells Raceway Park in his series debut.
Get used to hearing “Sam Mayer wins,” because it’s going to become a regular occurrence very soon in NASCAR’s top two series.
He’s won in everything he’s tried and it’s unwise to assume the streak won’t continue now that Mayer is driving the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Josh Berry, who’ll drive the No. 8 for the first half of the year before Mayer takes the reins in the second half, has also coached Mayer as a driver and watched him grow.
The teacher and the pupil get to work alongside one another this year.
“He’s young, but he’s already accomplished a lot,” Berry said. “I know he’s itching to get in the Xfinity Series and show off his talent.”
