Is 2021 the Start of NASCAR Cup’s Next Generation?
With 23 of the 38 drivers in Sunday’s Cup race under the age of 30, NASCAR’s youth movement isn’t on its way. It’s already here.
At 23, Homestead-Miami race winner William Byron is among the top young drivers in NASCAR Cup. Photo: Steve Fecht/GM News Photos.
After disappointing finishes in the first two races of 2021 – 26th in the season-opening Daytona 500 and 33rd in last Sunday’s race on the Daytona International Speedway road course – William Byron cashed in to win Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I can’t even believe it, honestly,” Byron told Fox Sports. “It was just a real smooth day and we worked hard to win on the track. This car was just awesome. It’s really a lot of hard work. I think we went to the simulator four or five times this off-season and it just pays off, man. It’s awesome.”
An equally big story was runner-up Tyler Reddick. Much like Byron, Reddick struggled in his first two races of the season: 27th in the Daytona 500 and 38th on the road course.
And had Sunday’s race gone maybe another five laps around the 1.5-mile oval, Reddick potentially could have caught and passed Byron, which would have made it three first-time winners in the Cup Series in as many races.
“Second place, it was a good night considering how the first two weeks went,” Reddick told Fox. “Once I really saw how fast we were in clean air at the end there, and I saw how fast we were catching everybody, it’s beyond frustrating.”
For the record, Reddick finished 2.77 seconds behind Byron in Sunday’s race. The fact that Reddick potentially could have made it three first-time winners in the first three races speaks volumes for the Corning, California native.
“Just two or three different decisions on a restart would have put me miles ahead and I would have been within reach,” Reddick told Fox. “Yeah, second is great, but I saw how much faster I was than those guys at the end. Naturally, it’s frustrating.”
Now with three races down, we already have three drivers qualified for the playoffs: Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell and now Byron. And there’s still 23 more races remaining to fill out the 16-driver NASCAR Cup playoff field.
At the same time, there’s also another theme to pay attention to. As this season has started, we are seeing a definite upward movement among the up-and-coming young drivers. Byron is 23, Reddick is 25 and Bell is 26.
In a year Fox Sports is predicting could be the best season ever in NASCAR, we are definitely seeing the next youth movement in the sport’s annals starting to move forward. With veterans like Kevin Harvick (45), Ryan Newman (43), Kurt Busch (42), Martin Truex Jr. (40) and Denny Hamlin (40) likely to retire in the next three to five years, we’re seeing Cup racing starting to morph more and more into a young man’s game.
Take Sunday’s race as an example.
In addition to Byron, Reddick and Bell, there were 20 other drivers – making up more than half the 38-driver field – under the age of 30 including Matt DiBenedetto (29), Daniel Suarez (29), Corey LaJoie (29), Timmy Hill (28), Ross Chastain (28), Kyle Larson (28), Chris Buescher (28), Garrett Smithley (28), Ryan Blaney (27), Bubba Wallace (27), Alex Bowman (27), Chase Briscoe (26), defending Cup champion Chase Elliott (25), Cody Ware (25), Josh Bilicki (25), Erik Jones (24), Quin Houff (23), Cole Custer (22), Anthony Alfredo (21) and Justin Haley (21).
That’s nearly 61 percent of Sunday’s race field. Or another way to see how significant the youthful roster was, only 15 drivers in the race were 30 or over.
It’s fair to say many of those 23 drivers will go on to write much of the next decade or so of NASCAR history.
Granted, the way some finished in Sunday’s race as well as for the first two races of this season, there’s no question they need more experience. They’ll get it in due time. But there’s also a heck of an education those young drivers can get not only from running against veterans like Kurt or Kyle Busch or the other elders of the Cup tour, but from their young peers.
In the last several seasons, we’ve seen a number of drivers retire from Cup racing including Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and most recently Jimmie Johnson, among others. But as those veterans have moved on, and while they are definitely missed, we have seen guys like Kyle Busch (himself an already “old” 35) move up and take their places.
Now it’s time for the next generation of NASCAR drivers to begin to move up and take their own place.
Whether this season lives up to Fox’s billing as the best ever in NASCAR or not, the 2021 campaign definitely has the potential to become one of the most significant transitional seasons we’ve seen in the sport’s 72-year history.
And it couldn’t come at a better time.
Perhaps more so than at any other time in its existence, with NASCAR committed to growing its fan base and making it more diverse, inclusive and welcoming – particularly to people of color – having more drivers, race winners and champions of a youthful age coming to the fore will go a long way for those new fans to identify with and to attract even more fans, as well.