NASCAR has a lot of young talent working their way up through the ranks throughout the Craftsman Truck Series, Xfinity Series, and even the ARCA Menards Series. One day, these guys will all be racing on Sundays and some will become NASCAR Cup Series Champions. Which five drivers do we at the Daily Downforce believe are future Cup Series Champions?
Corey Heim has been nothing short of impressive in his time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He won two races in a partial schedule last year, and he won the Regular Season Championship despite missing a race this year.
He is taking some time to work his way up the ladder, but there is nothing wrong with that as he is still 21 years old. However, could the 20 car opening up at JGR mean Heim is ready to take his next step? He has impressed everywhere he has driven, and there is no reason to think that will stop anytime soon, all the way up to the Cup Series level.
Carson Hocevar has burst onto the scene throughout the 2023 season. From not winning a race in each of his first two seasons in Trucks to impressive runs in the Cup Series throughout 2023. The ceiling for Hocevar is definitely a high one.
It will likely be a few years before he is a Championship-level driver in Cup, as his best shot at getting a Cup ride for 2024 is probably either Spire or Kaulig. However, given how he blossomed in the Trucks, time may be just the thing Hocevar needs.
Zane Smith has not had everything go his way, but that has not stopped him from performing well in the lower series. In four Truck Series seasons, Smith has made three Championship Fours including the 2022 Series Championship. This year, he has won another two races, and he also nabbed his first career Cup Series top-10 finish at the Coca-Cola 600.
All he needs is a chance at the Cup Series level. It seems that chance is going to come at some point, but the question is when. One thing is for certain, Smith is going to be out to prove himself when he gets to Cup, and a Championship may be in the cards in a few years.
Sammy is not the first Smith on this list, and he may not be the last. Sammy Smith is only 19 years old, and he is already a winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He straight-up skipped Trucks, and he is going to the Xfinity Series Playoffs in his first season.
Smith is still very young, so, a Cup Series ride is probably two, maybe three years away at this point. However, his success at such a young age means he has quite the potential for the future.
A stretch, maybe, but, Smith is as close to the Cup Series as anyone on this list. He has won everywhere he has been in NASCAR, from the Xfinity Series with Kaulig to the Truck Series with Kyle Busch Motorsports.
He has a chance to make a move up to the Cup Series with an up-and-coming team. Could he be the guy Kaulig builds their team around?
Which other drivers in the lower series could find a Cup Series Championship trophy on their mantle in the near future?
Where do all the drivers stand after the first official points race in the standings table?
After winning the opening points race of the season at Daytona by leading one lap, Tyler Reddick made it to the top of the standings. Under the new rules, he managed to pull up 58 points. He pocketed 55 for the win and added three more by finishing Stage 2 in P8. He may have squeezed out at least one more had he landed inside the top 10 in Stage 1, but after getting swept into a Lap 5 crash, Reddick limped the Stage 1 in P20, giving him no extra points.
Rounding out the top 10 are Brad Keselowski with 39 points in sixth despite a P5 finish, followed by his driver, Chris Buescher, in seventh with 39, Bubba Wallace in eighth with 37, Carson Hocevar in ninth with 36, and Ryan Blaney in 10th with 36.
Atlanta could be a springboard for Elliott, who owns an average finish of 11.4 across 14 starts there, with two wins, including one in last year’s fall race, plus three top fives and nine top 10s. The track could also pull Kyle Busch back into contention. Having already shown his speed at Daytona by winning the pole, he may potentially pull it off at the 1.54-mile track. The RCR driver sits P14 in the standings, but with an average finish of 8.8 at Atlanta since 2023 across six starts, the place might finally snap his 94-race drought.
Then again, Connor Zilisch has only one start at the track and came home P11 last year when he made his third Cup start there, making Atlanta a stage where he could stamp his mark.
Ryan Blaney will also have a better chance than anyone else to climb through a win or even points alone at Atlanta. The No. 12 Team Penske driver has one win there from 2021, but consistency has been his strong suit, with seven top fives and nine top 10s in 15 starts. And that puts him in a position to move the needle when the field rumbles into Atlanta.
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The Daytona 500 and Speedweeks may be over, but that doesn’t mean the chaos will cool off for the stars of NASCAR’s three National Series, as they roll into Hampton, Georgia, to the high banks of EchoPark Speedway for one of the schedule’s most unique race weekends.
Note: This article will be updated as more information about the weekend comes out.
One race weekend is in the books, and a 36-week march back to Florida is underway for the three NASCAR National Series. Whether you are going to be at the track or home, what does the forecast look like for the race weekend in Hampton, Georgia?
Before the Races (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
During the Truck Race (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM)
During the OAP Series Race (5:00 PM – 8:00 PM)
After the Race (8:00 PM – 11:00 PM)
Before the Race (11:00 AM – 3:00 PM)
During the Race (3:00 PM – 7:00 PM)
After the Race (7:00 PM – 10:00 PM)
NASCAR got lucky at EchoPark in 2025, and, as a matter of fact, everywhere else, but that doesn’t mean weather hasn’t affected the track’s races in the past with spot showers and major showers taking on race weekends. Take the summer of 2023, when the race took on a large rain shower that resulted in the race ending after just 185 laps, with race winner William Byron the leader at the time of caution.
Note: This article will be updated with a more accurate and detailed forecast as the race weekend nears.
