With each passing season in NASCAR's Nationwide Series, a new crop of rookie drivers emerge on the scene mixed with equal parts of exhilaration and trepidation.

Coming from all parts of the country, they hope to make a splash; they hope for more than just 15 minutes of fame for being the new kid on the block. But in the increasingly competitive sport of NASCAR, they're likely to become topics of "where are they now" conversations before fans even learn their names. While their competitors are in the tech line, they're looking for the unemployment line.

David Ragan survived his 2007 rookie season in both the Nationwide and Cup series, and he shed his yellow stripe at the end of last year. But he realizes his job security is that of an American auto worker.

"I definitely don't want to be a part of VH1's Where Are They Now series," said Ragan, now in his second Cup season at Roush Fenway Racing. "But there's always going to be the next young guy who is faster, looks better and is a better spokesperson. The main thing I am focusing on is you always have to show constant improvement and demonstrate a good work ethic."

You can't finish 25th every Sunday and still expect to have a job on Monday, Ragan added.

The harsh reality for life as a young racecar driver is that most of them do not prepare for the worst; the worst being that they lose their ride. Few maintain fall-back plans, and because they put all their time and efforts into their budding NASCAR careers, college or post-high school educations fall by the wayside.

Some take a step down NASCAR's career ladder and become spotters or work on a crew, but when you've already found a reasonable amount of success in the Nationwide Series or even made a few appearances in the Sprint Cup Series, downsizing can be a hard pill to swallow.

Todd Kluever, a member of the 2006 Nationwide Series rookie class, echoes these sentiments.

"The hardest part is just sitting around. If something doesn't pan out, I was smart with the money I did make, but come next year I need to make a decision."

TODD KLUEVER

This is the same driver that was expected to replace Cup veteran Mark Martin in the No. 6 car at Roush Fenway Racing in 2007. Although before he could finish his Nationwide Series season, the brakes were put on his racing career and the 20-something from Wisconsin was dismissed. Ragan instead took the vacated No. 6 seat.

Now approaching 30 and still living in Catawba, N.C., in order to be close to dozens of race shops, Kluever has remained in what he calls a holding pattern.

The same could be said for most of the 2006 rookie class. Few members of the class that did manage to stay afloat still do not have full-time rides. Drivers such as Danny O'Quinn Jr., Joel Kauffman and Mark McFarland have fallen off NASCAR's radar, sidelined with sponsorship woes, replaced with more qualified talent or merely sent back to a less competitive racing series.

From 2000 to 2007, all but one rookie class produced at least one success story or drivers who graduated to the Cup Series.

The exception was 2006. Whether it was the high concentration of Cup drivers moonlighting in what was intended to be a feeder series or sponsors pouring their marketing budgets into Cup veterans who could attract TV broadcasters better than the rookies, the class produced no staying power. The lack of seat time, an inexperienced crew, no marketability -- also explanations for why a rookie can succeed or fail.

Joe Balash, director of competition for the Nationwide Series, said 2006 is not reflective of a typical rookie class.

"So many circumstances and variables factor into the outcome, it's hard to say what happened," he said. "From the year 2000 to 2007, more than 17 of the rookies are having successful Cup careers -- Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, etc."

Balash said a large majority of rookies who fail to make it in the series continue to race in other areas, become engineers or team coaches.

Before his foray into NASCAR, Kluever was on the college track, well on his way to a degree in marketing. Now his only definite option is to go back home to Wisconsin and run the tavern he co-owns with his brother Tim.

"You gotta do what you gotta do to make a living in this world," he said. "The hardest part is just sitting around. For so long at home I ran my tavern and my race team, now there's just not a lot going on. If something doesn't pan out, I was smart with the money I did make, but come next year I need to make a decision."

And regardless of what decision he makes, be it the tavern back home or a desk job in North Carolina, he won't be satisfied unless he is racing.

"I want to be racing," he said. "I mean, I just really want to be racing -- do it right, in the right competitive situation."

In his Nationwide rookie season, Kluever produced four top-10s and one pole, and in the Craftsman Truck Series the year before he produced six top-fives, 12 top-10s and earned rookie of the year honors.

But results waned and the team struggled on the Nationwide side. By the time Kluever felt he was hitting his stride it was too late.

"For me it was just a situation where we were a startup [Nationwide] team at [Roush Fenway Racing] with only one year. I was really optimistic -- we just needed one more year but were not given the opportunity," he said. "I knew that the way we were running with the car wasn't good enough. And if you're not running as well, obviously you shouldn't be going to a Cup car and they felt they needed to do something different."

That something different was replacing Kluever with Ragan. And to use Ragan's own words, he was "younger" and "faster."

Calling in replacements is the nature of the sport but getting a call back is nearly unheard of.

Jimmy White, who tracks rookie talent and success rates for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year program, said the average rookie class comprises seven to 10 drivers. Of that class, an average of two to five drivers will graduate to the Cup Series.

"I was told, had I been there two years before I would've been a superstar."

BURNEY LAMAR

"The unfortunate part of this business is that you get tagged as damaged goods if you don't produce results and no one wants to touch you again," White said. "It's hard to be young and experienced at the same time."

And the drivers aren't young forever. The problem Kluever and others in his situation face is that racers have a shelf life. They can expire around age 30, because most of today's team owners look for young talent to prepare and groom in their own developmental programs.

"You can't always count on making it big in the Cup Series when you're 30 years old," Ragan said. "Eventually you have to face the facts and move on. But it's hard because in the back of your mind, you always think there's going to be one more chance."

Burney Lamar, 26, agrees and is still holding out hope after losing his ride more than halfway through his 2006 rookie season, a season where most of his rookie class competitors were fired as well.

Lamar, under the banner of Kevin Harvick Inc., finished second at the season-opening event in Daytona followed by two top-10 finishes in 25 races.

But after the June race in Nashville, Lamar's performance plummeted and he knew Harvick would make a change. He understood, but what he wanted everyone else to understand was that he needed more practice at first-time tracks.

"As the year went on, we were going to tracks I had never seen before and at some point in time it seemed more and more Cup drivers were coming over to the [Nationwide] races. A huge amount of Cup drivers were racing when I was in the series," Lamar said.

So far this season, the number of Cup moonlighters to race in the Nationwide Series has averaged between 12 and 14. In 2006, the highest number of moonlighters competing in a single Nationwide race topped out at 24, but overall averaged between 15 and 17.

"I was told, had I been there two years before I would've been a superstar," Lamar said.

Lamar conceded it was a tough year for him once he lost his momentum.

"It's really tough to get it back," he said. "I was extremely thankful for what KHI had done for me and I understood everybody is in this to win races and we weren't capable."

The experience has humbled Lamar, but hiding his frustration with the sport is difficult.

"If your parents don't have tons of money or if you're not a marketing genius, you're not going to get a ride right now," he said. "I'll be really honest with you. If I had zero experience but had money, I would have a job right now."

But not all is wrong in the world for Lamar. In his rookie season he met his wife, supermodel Niki Taylor, who stars in a new reality show Make Me a Supermodel.

The couple now lives in Nashville, Tenn.

Some might assume Lamar is content to be a house husband, but on the contrary he refuses.

"I'm not the type of person to let my wife support me. I'm kind of running out of money but we aren't starving by any means," he said. "I will always have something of my own. But I can't spend $500 every weekend going to the track looking for a job. I'm hoping I get a ride."

Lamar has had a handful of opportunities to qualify for Cup races recently. However, weather and mechanical issues prevented that from happening. He'll have another shot in Texas. And some Cup veterans such as Robby Gordon have encouraged him to keep fighting. Before the season started, Gordon called on Lamar to test his Cup car in Nashville.

"My dad told me, 'I'll buy you a brand-new set of Taylor Made golf clubs and a Mustang to quit racing.' ... but I'm happy with the way things worked out."

DAVID RAGAN

Meanwhile, he is in the process of obtaining his pilot license and taking his written test this week. Aviation is an interest he picked up while flying on Harvick's private plane. He studies his flight manuals while traveling with his wife to and from New York.

Would he be content flying private jets? Yes, but like Kluever, racing is what makes Lamar truly happy. It's his passion.

"If I can't race, I won't be OK," he said. "I'll rebound eventually, but it will be devastating. I'll hate it because it is something I know I can do.

For Lamar, it's a case of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone."

"I think about things I could've done differently. I thought I gave 110 percent with KHI," he said.

But if the results on the track don't come or circumstances outside of your control prevent you from racing, drivers have to face reality.

Running in both the Nationwide and Cup series, Ragan has the luxury of employment right now but realizes the same thing could happen to him.

"If something was to happen, two years without a job, you have to be realistic and sometimes you just have to go get a job like normal people," Ragan said.

Ragan has stood at racing's crossroads on more than one occasion faced with tough decisions to go forward or fold.

At 15 years old racing at Caraway Speedway in North Carolina, Ragan was looking at a wrecked racecar, he was short $100,000 for the next event, and there was no sponsor lined up for the next season. His father's retirement fund was depleted as was his family's vacation money.

"Man I thought that was going to be the end," Ragan said. "My dad told me, 'I'll buy you a brand-new set of Taylor Made golf clubs and a Mustang to quit racing.' He was ready to send me to school so I could live a normal life. I had to make a decision to go to school or keep fighting to be a racecar driver.

"My friends told me, 'Take the Mustang, take the Mustang,' but I'm happy with the way things worked out. Yes, it's very difficult but if you believe you can do it, if your heart is there and the skill, you can do it."

So what if Ragan had taken the car?

"I might be a popular guy in that car and dream of playing basketball at Georgia Tech," he said.

Neither Lamar nor Kluever are ready to give up on their dream to race, but they know the window of opportunity is closing fast.

They keep in touch with the other rookies from their 2006 class, hoping to hear a success story -- a story that would renew their faith.

"If I do get a job, I will be a tough competitor," Lamar said. "And I won't get pulled out of a car again until I'm ready to retire, that's for sure."