2024 Rookie of the Year Battle: Who Are the Rookies in Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup?
What’s Happening? The NASCAR Rookie of the Year battle is one of the best storylines to watch across all three…
The Rookie of the Year battle is one of the best battles throughout the NASCAR season. The award, given to the Rookie with the highest final position in the standings, has a history of Champions, Hall of Famers, and Daytona 500 winners. So, here are this year’s Cup Series Rookie of the Year Candidates.
What’s Happening? The NASCAR Rookie of the Year battle is one of the best storylines to watch across all three…
Last year’s NASCAR Cup Series rookie battle saw an unlikely victory from Spire Motorsports Carson Hocevar. Hocevar beat Josh Berry by 107 points after a season in which the Rookie had one top-five and two top-tens.
What will be different this year is the sheer number of drivers eligible for the award. Last season, four candidates, Berry, Hocevar, Kaz Grala, and Zane Smith, battled for the honor. Yet, as of press time this year, the title will be decided between two drivers.
None of the drivers in last year’s class made the Playoffs. However, this year, both drivers have a chance to make it.
Riley Herbst is the newest member of 23XI Racing. However, this promotion has been a long time coming.
Herbst made his ARCA debut in 2017 with Toyota. His relationship with Toyota, alongside support from Monster Energy and wins in ARCA, quickly pushed him up to full-time Xfinity Series Racing with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2020.
This season, full of challenge and struggles, would be the first of five years in the Xfinity Series, and at the time, it seemed to be his final year with Toyota. In 2021, Herbst and Monster moved to Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 98. It would take Herbst two more seasons to get his first win at Las Vegas in 2023.
However, entering 2024, Herbst’s tenure and the uncertain future of Stewart-Haas Racing raised several red flags about his future. When SHR announced its closure and the Xfinity team announced it would reform into the Haas Factory Team for 2025 with new drivers and fans, fans knew Herbst’s time at SHR was up. Despite this, he won two races in 2023, including a dramatic win at Indianapolis.
However, he landed on his feet, with 23XI Racing expanding to three cars for 2025, giving Herbst the wheel of the new No. 35. While Herbst is not a specialist at any track, his history shows that he has solid runs in the Cup Series with Front Row Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing. If Herbst gets comfortable, he could win a race in his rookie season.
While Herbst took his time working through, Trackhouse Racing felt 35-year-old Shane Van Gisbergen needed just one season. In 2024, the New Zealander won three races, finished 12th in points, and second in Rookie of the Year.
SVG, a three-time Supercars champion, made his NASCAR debut with Trackhouse at the inaugural Chicago street race. He piloted the PROJECT91 No. 91 to victory that evening in his first career start. This one-off ballooned into another start and a developmental contract with Trackhouse.
As part of that deal, Trackhouse sent SVG to Kaulig Racings No. 97 last season, where he won three road course races, including two in a row at Portland and Sonoma. He also made part-time starts in the Cup Series with Kaulig, coming up short at Watkins Glen and a pole at the Charlotte Roval.
SVG may seem like the clear front-runner in the Rookie of the Year battle, thanks to the Playoffs. If he can lock himself in with, say, a win on a road course, SVG will likely lock down the honor. However, he has struggled on Road Courses outside since that win in Chicago. He also struggles on ovals, so while it may feel like SVG has it locked down, it looks like Herbst has a chance to even things up on ovals.
This page will be updated as the season goes on, showing the standing between the two drivers.
