This year's rookies under the radar compared to past (cont'd)

Paired down to Hornish and Smith, it's actually Smith who currently holds the rookie lead over Hornish by one point after Sunday's race at Fontana.

"Maybe it's rightfully so," Smith said of the little attention he's received compared to his open-wheel counterpart Hornish who has made $1.1 million more than him this year. "Sam has got great credentials with the Indy 500s and the championships and things like that on a national market. But I am driving for DEI and they've done a great job this year. The car has been solidly in the top 35 all season long and we've had some good runs and finished races. Like I said, I don't know if it's justified or not, but maybe a little bit."

None of the rookies have come close to winning this season. Hornish's 13th-place finish at Charlotte was his best of the season. Smith's best finish this season is 14th (twice), and Carpentier was 14th in July's race at Daytona. McDowell's best finish was at Sonoma when he was 21st. In Franchitti's 10 races this season, he never finished higher than 22nd.

"It's been exactly like Regan said, it's been a tough year for a lot of the rookies," said Hornish, who switched crew chiefs three weeks ago. "A lot of times for us it seems like as soon as we start getting on a roll and getting things turned around, we get some kind of a setback."

His latest setback was falling outside of the top 35 in owner points. At 36th, Hornish must qualify for Saturday's race on speed.

"You don't have that situation you do in a lot of other divisions where you can just go out and out-spend everyone and have a better car. Even if you're not on your game, you finish second or third," Ragan said. "Here, everybody is spending a lot of money. All the crew chiefs are experienced as are the car owners. Everybody has manufacturer support. It's tough.

"A lot of young kids come in and if they run 15th or 20th every week they think that's a bad race. You have to kind of learn or tell yourself it's not too bad of a race; we can improve and work on that."

The biggest setback for this rookie class, however, may not be known for years to come.

In the last decade, every driver to win rookie of the year is also a race winner in the Cup Series. The last driver to win the award without a career victory was Kenny Irwin Jr., who was a rookie in 1998.

But sliding under the radar may not be a bad thing, according to last year.

In finishing second in rookie points, Ragan had just two top-fives in 2007. This year, he's battling for a Chase spot as the series turns to Saturday night's cutoff race at Richmond. He is still searching for his first victory, but he is 13th in points, just 17 points behind 12th-place Clint Bowyer. Montoya, however, is mired in 21st in points.

"On the track, my confidence overshadowed my experience," Ragan said of his rookie campaign last season. "I felt like I could go out and be Superman, qualify on the pole, lead every lap and win the race. I hit reality pretty quick. These guys are all pretty good racers. You can go out and test and practice as much as you want, but when you go out and put yourself on the racetrack with 42 other drivers that's what makes it a little tougher than what it seems to be."

Smith hopes the same path Ragan took awaits him. He is uncertain of his future, and negotiations for him to return to DEI have stalled due to sponsorship concerns. Smith said he's not naïve; he's been talking to people in the garage in search for a backup plan although his first choice would be to return to his current team.

Either way, he just wants to be able to get rid of the one thing about him that does stick out -- the bright yellow rookie stripe.

"I don't think for me that until we peel those stripes off at the end of the year that I'll ever feel like I'm not a rookie," Smith said. "Until they see that there's no stripes on that racecar anymore it's a little bit of a mental thing. Like Sam said, they still know who is in the car, but those stripes, it's just something about 'em. They stick out pretty big time."