No matter how long you race in NASCAR and what you end up accomplishing, you're only a rookie once. And for some of the sport's top drivers, a Rookie of the Year title has served as the foundation for great things to come.
From Richard Petty in 1959 and David Pearson in 1960 to Dale Earnhardt in 1979 and Jeff Gordon in 1993, many of the greatest drivers in stock car racing have signaled their ascent to the summit of the NASCAR Cup Series by winning the annual Sunoco Rookie of the Year title. And like the Hall of Fame drivers before them, several of the Cup champions of today -- Kyle Busch in 2005, Joey Logano in 2009, Kyle Larson in 2014 and Chase Elliott in 2016 -- have a Rookie of the Year title on their mantle.
This year, a foursome of Cup newcomers, all of whom graduated from the ranks of late model racing to stardom in the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series, will look to join the ranks of Rookie of the Year winners from Blackie Pitt in 1954 all the way to defending Rookie of the Year Ty Gibbs. Here is a primer on all four, including how they got to Cup and where they stand as they pursue top rookie honors.
Josh Berry -- No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Age: 33
Hometown: Hendersonville, Tenn.
Racing resume: Five career NASCAR Xfinity Series wins, 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Champion, 2017 CARS Late Model Stock Tour Champion, all-time winningest driver in CARS Tour history
Cup experience: 12 career starts (Best finish: second, Richmond I 2023)
Crew chief: Rodney Childers
Josh Berry's ascension to the Cup Series is a triumph for anyone and everyone who still believes that talent and hard work can eventually pay off in great opportunities in racing. An outstanding late model stock car racer, Berry became a household name at the grassroots level while working for JR Motorsports, but sponsorship and opportunities to compete at the Xfinity Series level were hard to come by. Berry made his Xfinity debut in 2014, but made just seven starts over the next four years despite his driving talent and the belief Dale Earnhardt Jr. had in him.
Eventually, after Berry won the NASCAR Weekly Series championship in 2020, Earnhardt gave him the opportunity to compete part-time in the Xfinity Series the next season. Berry seized the opportunity by winning at Martinsville and expanding his own schedule, earning a full-time ride for 2022 after winning twice with six top fives and 12 top 10s in 22 starts. The next season, Berry won three times and made the Championship 4 before settling for fourth in the final standings.
Berry's 2023 Xfinity season was a letdown by comparison -- he failed to win a race and finished 11th in the standings -- in part because his professional obligations suddenly proliferated. When Chase Elliott was injured in a snowboarding accident, Berry was tabbed as Elliott's substitute driver at Hendrick Motorsports. No sooner than Elliott returned, Alex Bowman was injured in a sprint car crash and Berry was summoned to be Hendrick's super sub yet again.
Berry made eight starts for Hendrick in total, earning three top-10 finishes including a best finish of second at Richmond in April while adding a win in the All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro. Berry also made two starts for Legacy Motor Club, and he has now been tabbed as the new driver of Stewart-Haas Racing's No. 4, taking over for the now-retired Kevin Harvick.
Berry landing with the No. 4 team is wish fulfillment in particular for those who compete in late model stocks across Virginia and the Carolinas. He is paired with crew chief Rodney Childers, who came from said background and has maintained very strong ties to the grassroots level where NASCAR's best were traditionally expected to cut their teeth. Among the many big-time late model races Berry has won include the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville, the Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway and the Myrtle Beach 400.
What also makes Berry a throwback is that since he spent many years clawing to earn any opportunity to race in NASCAR, he is as old a Cup rookie at 33 as has been seen in some time. Should Berry win Rookie of the Year, he would become the oldest to win the title since Andy Lally won it in an uncontested campaign at 36 years old in 2011.
Kaz Grala -- No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford & No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Age: 25
Hometown: Boston, Mass.
Racing resume: One career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win (Daytona, 2017), 19 career NASCAR Xfinity Series top 10 finishes, youngest driver to ever win a NASCAR race at Daytona (18 years, 1 month, 26 days), youngest driver to ever compete in IMSA (15 years)
Cup experience: Seven career starts, two top-10 finishes (Best finish: sixth, Talladega 2021)
Crew Chief: Billy Plourde/Seth Barbour
Kaz Grala moves to the Cup Series in 2024, running the majority of the season in the Rick Ware Racing No. 15 while also attempting to qualify for the Daytona 500 in a third car for Front Row Motorsports. Grala has been in the mix as a NASCAR up-and-comer for some time, but his path to Cup has been one of peaks and valleys.
Grala started his NASCAR career in grand fashion in 2017 when he won the Craftsman Truck Series season opener at Daytona, becoming the youngest driver to ever win a race at Daytona in one of NASCAR's national touring series at just over 18 years old. Grala went on to finish seventh in the Truck championship standings that year, and he earned a promotion to the Xfinity Series the next season.
But from there, Grala's opportunities became more limited. His team shut down midway through the 2018 season due to financial problems, and though Grala impressed in limited action from then on -- he famously finished fifth at Daytona in a borrowed 10-year old car that had been set to become a mere display piece -- he was not able to find another full-time ride until last year, when he ran the full Xfinity season for Sam Hunt Racing and earned two top-five and nine top-10 finishes.
In-between that time, Grala proved enormously impressive in seven Cup starts to date. He hurriedly made his debut as a substitute driver for Austin Dillon at the Daytona Road Course in 2020, impressing many with a seventh-place run in his debut. The next season, Grala improved on that with a career-best sixth place finish at Talladega for Kaulig Racing. Two of Grala's Cup starts have come in the Daytona 500, including in 2022 when he put The Money Team Racing and celebrity car owner Floyd Mayweather in the field.
Zane Smith -- No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Age: 24
Hometown: Huntington Beach, Calf.
Racing resume: 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, nine career Truck Series wins, 2018 ARCA Racing Series Rookie of the Year
Cup experience: Nine career starts (Best finish: 10th, 2023 Coca-Cola 600)
Crew chief: Stephen Doran
Like Josh Berry, Zane Smith came up through the ranks of late model racing, winning the 2015 World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway and finishing second to Chase Elliott in the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway that same year. But compared to Berry, Smith quickly earned rides with top race teams in ARCA, winning four times and earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2018 before taking a part-time Xfinity Series ride with JR Motorsports in 2019. Smith competed in 10 races with two top fives and seven top 10s with a best finish of fifth twice.
Smith's career took off with a move to the Truck Series in 2020, where he won twice, finished second in the championship standings and won Rookie of the Year honors driving for GMS Racing. After winning once and earning another championship runner-up in 2021, Smith moved to Front Row Motorsports in 2022 to get over the hump. He did so, winning four times en route to the series championship.
2022 also saw Smith make his Cup debut as a substitute for Chris Buescher at Gateway, and in 2023 he would make eight starts mostly for Front Row while also winning twice more in Trucks. Though Smith's results in Cup were decent -- particularly a top-10 finish in the Coca-Cola 600 -- the performance of Todd Gilliland in the car he and Smith shared forced Front Row to stick with Gilliland, prompting Smith to sign with Trackhouse Racing.
As part of that agreement, Smith will be driving for Spire Motorsports this season, with the plan for him to be brought in-house to Trackhouse once they set up the infrastructure for three full-time cars in 2025. Not only is Smith a Cup rookie with a brand new team, but he also has a rookie crew chief in Stephen Doran. Doran was a longtime engineer for the No. 4 team at Stewart-Haas Racing, and his only previous crew chiefing experience came in an interim role for two races late in the 2022 season.
Carson Hocevar -- No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Age: 20
Hometown: Portage, Mich.
Racing resume: Four career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins, 2020 Winchester 400 champion
Cup experience: Nine career starts (Best finish: 11th, Bristol II 2023)
Crew chief: Luke Lambert
A product of Berlin Raceway in Michigan, Hocevar became the protege of Johnny Benson, whose outstanding NASCAR career included Xfinity and Truck Series championships as well as a lone Cup win at Rockingham in 2002. Hocevar won Berlin track championships in Outlaw and then Super Late Models, but was forced out for a year when NASCAR raised the minimum age for competing on tracks they sanction to 14.
After joining the Driver's Edge Development program, breaking into the ARCA ranks and making his Truck Series debut at Eldora in 2019, Hocevar joined Niece Motorsports for a partial Truck schedule in 2020 while he bolstered his late model resume with wins in the Winchester 400 and Redbud 400. Hocevar moved up to full-time competition in 2021, and he would proceed to finish in the top 10 in the championship standings both seasons and establish himself as a promising youngster before breaking out in 2023: Four victories, 11 top fives, 13 top 10s and a spot in the Championship 4.
If three full Truck seasons demonstrated Hocevar has talent, his nine Cup starts in 2023 proved writ-large he's got the right stuff. Hocevar was impressive in his debut at Gateway before crashing due to a brake failure, but his performance late in the season for Legacy Motor Club really got people's attention. He had top-20 finishes in five of his eight starts in the No. 42, including a run at Bristol Motor Speedway where he narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish and came home 11th.
However, Hocevar has opened himself up to and received plenty of criticism for driving over his head. He threw away a chance at his first career win at Charlotte in 2022, angering Ryan Preece in the process ("Don't do that."). In the 2023 Truck Series Championship Race, Hocevar overdrove the entry to Turn 1 while racing for the championship position with Corey Heim, spinning Heim out and dramatically altering the race (Heim retaliated against Hocevar in the final laps and was fined $12,500 by NASCAR). Hocevar has also caused a handful of wrecks intentionally -- a right hook on Colby Howard at IRP in 2022 was a particularly poor look -- something that won't be tolerated at the Cup level.
From that standpoint, Hocevar has a lot to prove in his first season, and he also is tasked with elevating the performance of a Spire No. 77 team that has lagged behind its counterpart in the No. 7. But working in his favor is Spire's hiring of veteran crew chief Luke Lambert, who spent many years at Richard Childress Racing with Ryan Newman before serving as Hocevar's crew chief for his Legacy M.C. stint last season. That continuity should work in Hocevar's favor, as should some incremental gains the No. 77 showed in the second half of last season with Ty Dillon behind the wheel.
